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The Biologic Clock: The Mitochondria?
Author(s) -
HARMAN DENHAM
Publication year - 1972
Publication title -
journal of the american geriatrics society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.992
H-Index - 232
eISSN - 1532-5415
pISSN - 0002-8614
DOI - 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1972.tb00787.x
Subject(s) - medicine , mitochondrion , life span , oxygen , mitochondrial dna , mortality rate , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , gerontology , gene , biology , chemistry , organic chemistry
The author suggests that the maximal life span of a given mammalian species is largely an expression of genetic control over the rate of oxygen utilization. The latter determines the rate of accumulation of mitochondrial damage produced by free radical reactions, the rate increasing with the rate of oxygen consumption, which ultimately causes death.