Biology of aging in an Israeli population. 1. Review of literature and morphological variation analysis.

This article reports the results of a comparative morphological assessment carried out on five age segments of an Israeli population: 1. neonates, 2. early school age children (6.5-7.5 years old), 3. young adults (18-29), 4. mature adults (30-45) and 5. elderly people (75-94). The aim of the investigation was to analyze the relationship between developmental homeostasis phenomena and the aging process. Developmental homeostasis was assessed via group coefficient of variation (CV) for 21 morphological traits and fluctuating asymmetry (FA) for 8 bilateral traits. The majority of traits was found to show significantly increased CV and FA in the elderly group. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that the aging process is accompanied by the total breakdown of the individual's developmental stability.