Saverio Gentile

By Vidhya Rao, Simon Kaja and Saverio Gentile

Aging in humans is the decline over function of time of biological processes that include the capacity to grow, to reproduce, to interact, and to adapt, resulting in progressive organ malfunctions, illnesses, and ultimately death. As the average life expectancy is estimated to be above 60 years for about 25% of the world's population by 2050, understanding the causes of and designing treatments for aging-related disease is a compelling priority. Although every organ and tissue undergoes the process of aging, it appears that only few pathogeneses are typically detected with high frequency in elderly individuals. These include cardiovascular disease, neurodegeneration, vision loss, and cancer. Therefore, aging could be measured by monitoring the occurrence and progression of these diseases. However, each of these medical conditions alone is not a good marker for aging as elder patients present comorbid chronic conditions. In addition, treatment of one disease does not significantly prolong life expectancy. Therefore, it appears that a possible antiaging therapeutic strategy should consider simultaneous treatment of several diseases or move toward identification of a common target among the biological processes involved in aging. In this chapter, we will discuss some of the basic concepts of the role of ion channels in aging and will present an overview of the function of ion channels in some of the most common aging-related diseases.

Part of the book: Molecular Mechanisms of the Aging Process and Rejuvenation