Participation theory of aging

The participation theory posits that aging (specified as the age-related deterioration of maintenance functions) primarily results from the participation of some regulatory systems in governing development by means of the expenditure of their resources. Telomere shortening, DNA demethylation, the cell loss and changes of the levels of hormones may exemplify the expenditure of regulatory resources. Life is longer when more regulatory systems spend resources for governing development due to their mutual substitutive saving. That explains why mechanisms of aging are more numerous in the more long-lived species. The improved anti-aging strategy may include not only the means which slow down the unproductive (uncoupled from performing development) loss of some resources but also the influences that selectively accelerate the expenditure of some other resources and, paradoxically, accelerate some processes leading to aging.