Exploring the role of genetic variability and lifestyle in oxidative stress response for healthy aging and longevity.

ABSTRACT: Oxidative stress is both the cause and consequence of impaired functional homeostasis characterizing human aging. The worsening efficiency of stress response with age represents a health risk and leads to the onset and accrual of major age-related diseases. In contrast, centenarians seem to have evolved conservative stress response mechanisms, probably derived from a combination of a diet rich in natural antioxidants, an active lifestyle and a favorable genetic background, particularly rich in genetic variants able to counteract the stress overload at the level of both nuclear and mitochondrial DNA. The integration of these factors could allow centenarians to maintain moderate levels of free radicals that exert beneficial signaling and modulator effects on cellular metabolism. Considering

SUBMITTER: Dato S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3759920 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature