Systems analysis of possible mechanisms of mammalian aging

A comparison is made between how bacteria and men use their DNA to accomplish any major biological function. To make this comparison, a modified cybernetic analysis was used. This new type of cybernetic analysis makes a distinction between controlled and regulated systems and may permit an extension of cybernetics into new areas of biology. Prokaryotes have only regulated systems for all major functions, whereas eukaryotes can have both regulated and controlled systems. Several lines of reasoning, including the new cybernetic analysis, suggest that death, as opposed to aging, may be a regulated function in mammals. By analogy with other major regulated developmental functions in mammals, it is also suggested that the hypothalamic-pituitary axis may be the site for the regulation of the time of death. An example of how the pituitary might act on the DNA of peripheral cells to cause possible, severe loss of functional capacity is given by some recent experiments with RNA polymerase activity of liver nuclei from rats of different ages and with different endocrine states.