Aging and anti-gerontological effects of algae

Abstract

Today, a new urban living, chemicals that are being used in working conditions and anthropogenic activity has brought environmental pollution. It is known that chemicals cause metabolismal, cytotoxic and mutagenic damage on living things. There is a relationship between the mutagenic and carcinogenic chemicals activities. The most common cause of death, heart disease and cancer in Turkey, this situation creates obstacles to people's complete genetic life. Aging, leading to progressive and irreversible decrease in body functions and meanwhile remodeling, is defined as a natural part of the complex life cycle between birth and death. There are many theories trying to explain the aging process of living organisms in gerontology science. Somatic mutation theory, telomerase activity theory, the theory of free radicals, the theory of genetic aging, immunology and endocrine theory, calorie restriction theory are some of them. Nowadays, the view which explains the aging with chronic and cumulative effects of the free oxygen radicals is one of the leading theories. According to this theory, small but all imperfections in antioxidant system during the period of life cause aging. Free radicals are atoms or groups of atoms with an odd (unpaired) number of electrons and can be formed when oxygen interacts with certain molecules during the respiration in the cell. Once formed, these highly reactive radicals, such as dominoes, can damage cellular molecules such as DNA by chain reactions. The accumulation of these damages can lead to diseases such as cancer and accelerate aging. Antioxidants are closely related to the prevention of cellular damage, which is a common pathway to cancer, aging and various diseases. In addition to the body's own antioxidant defense system, antioxidants must also be taken with foods to prevent free radical damage. Therefore, some varieties of algae growing in importance every day and antioxidant compounds obtained from them by the technology have been offered to commercial enterprises by the market as nutritional supplements. It is known that some algae contain valuable antioxidants and the anti-gerontological role of these algae rich in antioxidants is an important issue. Some positive results were obtained on animal model species about longevity by dietary addition of antioxidants derived from the algae. The purpose of this study is to draw attention to the future anti-gerontological potentials of algae because of their rich antioxidant content.