Nagy I
Arch Gerontol Geriatr. 1986 Dec;5(4):267-80. doi: 10.1016/0167-4943(86)90028-2.
This lecture was aimed to commemorate the centenary of the birthday (18 September 1886) of Fritz Verzár, one of the most important European founders of experimental gerontology. He was an exceptionally creative scientist who contributed considerably to the development of physiology in this century: he achieved important results in the fields of intestinal absorption, in the adrenal gland's function, and finally, from 1952 until his death (1979), he was creator, promotor and one of the best leaders of experimental gerontology. His idea about the age-dependent cross-linking of protein molecules as a general cause of cell aging--studied by him mainly using the collagen as a model, however, extended also to the nucleoproteins--was a pioneer's work. Yet, its significance was not immediately recognized, the contemporary scientists could not interpret his thoughts in the terms of test-tube biochemistry. However, about a decade later, in the sixties and afterwards, an increasing body of evidence has been accumulated indicating that Verzár was right: the most general age-dependent alteration of the proteins in the living systems known so far is a posttranslational modification of their structure and conformation due to the aggressive effects of the oxygen free radicals. Consequences of these thoughts are being realized nowadays in theory and practice. The present generation of scientists expresses its respect and recognition to Fritz Verzár whose life and activity have been teaching us that aging can be understood, if we find the proper theoretical approach to it.
本次讲座旨在纪念弗里茨·韦扎尔诞辰一百周年（1886年9月18日），他是欧洲实验老年学最重要的奠基人之一。他是一位极具创造力的科学家，为本世纪生理学的发展做出了巨大贡献：他在肠道吸收、肾上腺功能等领域取得了重要成果，最后，从1952年直至去世（1979年），他都是实验老年学的创立者、推动者和最杰出的领导者之一。他关于蛋白质分子随年龄增长交联是细胞衰老普遍原因的观点——他主要以胶原蛋白为模型进行研究，不过也扩展到了核蛋白——是一项开创性的工作。然而，其意义并未立即得到认可，当时的科学家无法从试管生物化学的角度解读他的想法。然而，大约十年后，在六十年代及之后，越来越多的证据积累起来，表明韦扎尔是正确的：迄今为止，在生物系统中已知的蛋白质最普遍的随年龄增长的变化是由于氧自由基的侵袭作用导致其结构和构象的翻译后修饰。如今，这些思想的影响在理论和实践中都有所体现。当代科学家对弗里茨·韦扎尔表示敬意和认可，他的一生和工作一直在教导我们，如果我们找到合适的理论方法，衰老现象是可以被理解的。
