STRESS-AGE SYNDROME

With aging a set of neurohormonal, tissue and cellular changes develop which can be defined as stress-age syndrome. They include irregular changes in the excitability of structures of the limbic system and hypothalamus, rise of the blood concentration of catecholamines, vasopressin, ACTH and cortisol, fall of the concentration of testosterone, thyroxin and other substances, change of the concentration of opioid peptides, immunodepression, dyslipoproteidemia hypercoagulation and free-radical damage of cells. One group of components of the above syndrome is of adaptive importance, while the other is damaging. Symptoms of stress-age syndrome have their individual peculiarities and cannot explain the whole complexity of symptoms of the organism's aging. Against the background of stress-age syndrome the course of developing stress reactions undergoes a change.