Should We Consider Water and Antibiotics to Be Geroprotectors?

Abstract

The authors try to consider the current situation with experimental gerontological research aimed at finding means to slow down aging and prolong life (geroprotectors/anti-aging drugs). The importance of correct defining aging as a set of age-related changes in the body, leading to an increase in the probability of its death, is emphasized, as well as the importance of attention to which lifespan (average, maximum, median, species-specific) changes under the influence of geroprotectors. It is noted that prolonging the life of non-aging animals with an exponential survival curve can hardly be considered a geroprotective effect. It is emphasized that the rate of aging and lifespan are not always strictly related, so the impact on one of these two indicators does not necessarily affect the second. The methodological aspects of works devoted to the study of the influence of diet restriction/modification on aging and lifespan are analyzed. The need for correct selection of a control group of animals in experimental gerontological studies is noted. According to the authors, such animals should not have any pathologies or genetic defects in order to exclude the possible influence of the studied factors on such abnormalities, and not on the aging process per se. In this regard, the authors do not consider antibiotics or drugs/vaccines against COVID-19 to be geroprotective, although the former led to the most significant increase of average lifespan in the 20th century, and the latter offset its decline in recent years caused by this infection. It is noted that the current situation in experimental gerontology makes it very desirable to have a thorough discussion on the question of what can still be considered geroprotectors/anti-aging drugs. It is proposed to organize such a discussion in the journal Advances in Gerontology.