Riggs J E
Department of Neurology, West Virginia University School of Medicine, Morgantown 26506.
Mech Ageing Dev. 1992 Feb;62(2):127-35. doi: 10.1016/0047-6374(92)90049-j.
Aging and mortality have long been a source of concern, fascination and investigation. The ultimate question being, why do we age and die? The method of longitudinal Gompertzian analysis demonstrates that aging and mortality are deterministically linked. Moreover, this method of analysis reveals that with enhanced human survival, mortality patterns have changed primarily as the result of the unmasking of latent susceptibilities to other Gompertzian diseases rather than altered environmental etiopathogenic influences. That is, the Gompertzian model of human aging and mortality suggests that redundant programmed failure is the primary reason for ultimate and inevitable mortality. A process by which redundant deterministic disease susceptibilities could accumulate within the genome is natural 'non-selection'. Random genetic mutations which enhance survival until reproduction facilitate the processes of natural selection and evolution. However, random genetic mutations that program for late failure or disease susceptibility would not be eliminated from the gene pool. Thus, random genetic mutations which have programmed for late susceptibility to Gompertzian diseases, and their cumulative non-selection, may be the basis for the deterministic relationship between aging and mortality.
衰老和死亡长期以来一直是人们关注、着迷和研究的对象。最根本的问题是，我们为什么会衰老和死亡？纵向冈珀茨分析方法表明，衰老和死亡存在确定性联系。此外，这种分析方法还揭示，随着人类生存期的延长，死亡模式的变化主要是由于对其他冈珀茨疾病的潜在易感性被揭示出来，而非环境致病影响的改变。也就是说，人类衰老和死亡的冈珀茨模型表明，冗余程序故障是最终不可避免死亡的主要原因。冗余确定性疾病易感性可能在基因组内积累的过程是自然的“非选择”。那些能提高生殖前生存率的随机基因突变促进了自然选择和进化过程。然而，那些导致后期功能衰退或疾病易感性的随机基因突变不会从基因库中被消除。因此，那些导致对冈珀茨疾病后期易感性的随机基因突变及其累积的非选择，可能是衰老与死亡之间确定性关系的基础。
