Authors: Olfa Chehab Mohamed Ouertani Yosra Souiden Kamel Chaieb Kacem Mahdouani
Publish Date: 2008/03/08
Volume: 40, Issue: 1, Pages: 27-
Abstract
The aging has been described by several theories It was proposed that free radicals are the major factor involved in this process This gave birth to the free radical theory of aging This current theory provides the most popular explanation for how aging occurs at the biochemical/molecular level Ever since 1956 this theory has received widespread attention and a large body of evidence has been accumulated in support of its hypotheses which were subsequently refined The free radical theory of aging postulates that ageassociated reductions in physiological functions are caused by an irreversible accumulation of oxidative alterations to macromolecules This accumulation increases with age and is associated with the life expectancy of organisms Moreover this theory suggests the existence of an imbalance between reactive oxygen species ROSproducing pathways and ROSscavenging pathways which is responsible for the generation of oxidative stress syndrome In this article we evaluate the antioxidant status in a population of healthy elderly Tunisians in comparison with a group of healthy young Tunisian subjects This study sets out to investigate the agerelated changes in glutathione peroxidase GPx superoxide dismutase SOD activities and in total antioxidant status TAS of human plasma We have concluded that healthy aging is accompanied with a disturbed antioxidant status
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