Chance, Development, and Aging - Hardcover

Finch, Caleb E.; Kirkwood, Tom

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195133617 ISBN 13: 9780195133615

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2000

Synopsis

In Chance, Development, and Aging, two leading biological gerontologists review and evaluate all of the available data to elucidate the respective roles played by genes and chance developmental events in determining the course of aging in individuals. The combination of genetic and external environmental influences provides only an incomplete answer. Inbred laboratory animals, for example, exhibit a wide range of life spans despite having nearly identical genes and environments. Similarly, uncovering the genetic risks for Alzheimer's disease has not enabled doctors to predict with confidence its onset and severity. This book argues that understanding chance events, specifically random variations during prenatal development, is essential for answering these questions. The book draws on the extensive research in developmental biology on random variations in form and function, while putting this research in a new context. The discussion sheds light on a range of questions, from understanding menopause to explaining why identical twins are not truly identical. The book will be invaluable for gerontologists, geneticists, developmental and reproductive biologists, physiologists, and a broad range of physicians and investigators in experimental medicine.

About this title

About the Author

Dr. Caleb E. Finch is ARCO and William Kieschnick Professor of Gerontology at the Andrus Gerontology Center, University of Southern California. Dr. Tom Kirkwood is a Professor at the University of Manchester and the Director of the Joint Center on Aging at the Universities of Manchester and Newcastle.

Review

"Why do the lifespans and outcomes of aging in inbred and well cared for laboratory populations of nematodes, fruit flies and mice vary so much among individuals? And why are the variations in lifespans of these animals at least as great as that [between] human identical twins who experience much longer lifespans and more diverse environments? Such questions motivated the writing of this book. Finch and Kirkwood provide a novel analysis that should be widely read, for it raises important issues of general biological and medical relevance, about the significance of chance variations during development. ... The disposable soma theory of aging permeates the book and rightly so; this theory states that selection only maintains those aspects of bodily function required for reproduction ... Thus there is no selection against aging once reproduction is achieved. ... In summary, Finch and Kirkwood have very successfully opened up an important and largely neglected field for discussion."--Cell

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0195133617
• ISBN 13: 9780195133615
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 278