Lipid peroxidation and the aging process

Consistent evidence supports the hypothesis that a progressive accumulation of oxidative damage to important cellular molecules is a fundamental mechanism involved in most senescence-associated alterations. Oxidative damage occurs when free radicals produced within an organism are not completely destroyed by the appropriate endogenous defense systems. Because lipids are a major component of living organisms and probably the first easy target of free radicals once they are produced, lipid peroxidation might play an important role in initiating and/or mediating some aspects of the aging process. It has been widely demonstrated that there is an age-associated increase in the steady-state concentrations of lipid peroxidation products. However, establishing the involvement of this phenomenon in the pathogenesis of the aging process has not been an easy task. The recent development of more reliable techniques to measure lipid peroxidation, together with more well-defined animal models of aging, should be of great help in future studies in this field. The current evidence for the presence and importance of lipid peroxidation in the aging process is discussed in this review.