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Aging and osteoarthritis. Chronic nonspecific inflammation as a link between aging and osteoarthritis (a review)

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Abstract

This paper presents a review on the processes underlying aging and the most common age-associated diseases. Special attention is given to the role of chronic nonspecific inflammation. Based on the literature data, aging and osteoarthritis (OA) were demonstrated to have the same basic molecular and cellular mechanisms, among which a significant role is played by general cascades of intracellular transcription, chronic nonspecific inflammation, and metabolic disorders. It is concluded that the process of normal aging is not a disease, but it makes the human body, particularly the musculoskeletal system, susceptible to ageassociated changes. A number of changes in the human body that accompany the aging process and play a certain role in the development and progress of OA are potentially reversible regardless of age (e.g., chronic nonspecific inflammation), and they can be considered as possible application points for the effective prevention and complex therapy of OA in elderly people.

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Correspondence to O. I. Mendel.

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Original Russian Text © O.I. Mendel, L.V. Luchihina, W. Mendel, 2015, published in Uspekhi Gerontologii, 2015, Vol. 28, No. 2, pp. 274–283.

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Mendel, O.I., Luchihina, L.V. & Mendel, W. Aging and osteoarthritis. Chronic nonspecific inflammation as a link between aging and osteoarthritis (a review). Adv Gerontol 5, 252–260 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079057015040165

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