Ferrucci Luigi, Giallauria Francesco, Schlessinger David
Longitudinal Studies Section, Clinical Research Branch, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD 21225, United States.
Mech Ageing Dev. 2008 Nov;129(11):677-9. doi: 10.1016/j.mad.2008.09.007. Epub 2008 Sep 25.
Frailty stands at the nexus of geriatrics and gerontology, and requires both basic biology and clinical knowledge for its analysis. Understanding frailty difficulties much more than simply adding another outcome measure in epidemiological studies. The major challenge is the identification of multiple feed-forward and feed-back signaling pathways involved in the maintenance of biological homeostasis in complex organisms that may fail with aging. The cause of frailty and loss of resilience is probably a progressive loss of redundancy in these response patterns and connections. Advances toward the development of a theoretical model that can potentially embrace the complexity of frailty should be highly encouraged, especially models designed to explain the biology of aging which can promote a better integration and communication between scientists who study this problem from different perspectives.
衰弱处于老年医学和老年学的交叉点，其分析需要基础生物学和临床知识。理解衰弱远比在流行病学研究中简单增加另一个结果指标要困难得多。主要挑战在于识别复杂生物体中参与维持生物稳态的多种前馈和反馈信号通路，这些通路可能会随着衰老而失效。衰弱和恢复力丧失的原因可能是这些反应模式和联系中冗余的逐渐丧失。应大力鼓励朝着开发一个能够潜在涵盖衰弱复杂性的理论模型迈进，特别是旨在解释衰老生物学的模型，这可以促进从不同角度研究这一问题的科学家之间更好的整合与交流。
