REVIEW: Age-Related Obesity Is a Heritage of the Evolutionary Past

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E. V. Tereshina^1,2* and S. I. Ivanenko¹

¹World Wide Medical Assistance, Fuchsloch 6A, 6317 Oberwil B. Zug, Switzerland; fax: (495) 631-5620; E-mail: info@wwma.ch

²Pirogov Russian State Medical University, Russian Scientific and Clinical Center of Gerontology, ul. 1-ya Leonova 16a, 129226 Moscow, Russia; fax: (499) 187-6467; E-mail: winterel@mail.ru

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received March 20, 2014

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In the process of human aging, an increase in the total amount of fat is observed mainly due to accumulation of lipids in non-adipose tissues. Insulin resistance, provoked by the intracellular accumulation of triglycerides, is often associated with development of such age-related diseases as atherosclerosis, type 2 diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis, and also with systemic inflammation and lipo- and glucose toxicity. Accumulation of lipids and lipophilic compounds is a biological phenomenon common for both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Initially, it arose as an adaptation to starvation and shortage of nitrogen-containing nutrients, but later it converted into a depot of membrane material, needed on recommencement of cell division. In rodents and humans, the accumulation of non-metabolized fat in non-adipose tissues can be regarded as an adaptation to changes in the internal medium on a certain stage of ontogenesis as a result of age-related dysfunction of adipose tissue.

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KEY WORDS: lipid accumulation, adaptation, adipose tissue, lipotoxicity, aging

DOI: 10.1134/S0006297914070013

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