Basic gerontology research in Ukraine: main trends

The main trends of basic research in gerontology in Ukraine are presented in this paper. The greatest attention is paid to the directions of research which have been traditionally followed in Ukrainian gerontology, such as neurohumoral regulation of the activities of different organs and systems and mechanisms of its age-related changes, metabolism in ageing, age-related immunology, elaboration of the ways and approaches to life-span prolongation. In recent years, more attention has been paid to research into the molecular--genetic mechanisms of ageing, the development of genetic and gene-regulatory therapy methods, the study of the mechanisms of accelerated and, above all, radiation-induced ageing and the elaboration of prophylactic methods against it.