Development of aging changes: self-accelerating and inhomogeneous

Aging changes including age spots and atherosclerotic plaques develop in a manner of inhomogeneous and accelerated. For understanding this phenomenon, development of aging changes is analyzed by Misrepair mechanism, which is introduced in Misrepair-accumulation theory. I. Misrepair is a strategy of repair for increasing the surviving chance of an organism in situations of severe injuries; however a Misrepair alters the structure of a tissue, a cell or a molecule, which are the sub-structures of an organism. II. Alteration of the structure of a substructure by Misrepair also alters the spatial relationship between local sub-structures, and this change will lead to increased damage-sensitivity and reduced repair-efficiency of these substructures. As a result, Misrepairs have a tendency to occur to the sub-structure and its neighbor sub-structures where an old Misrepair has taken place. In return, new Misrepairs will increase again the damage-sensitivity of these sub-structures and the surrounding substructures. The frequency of Misrepairs to these sub-structures is increased and the range of affected sub-structures is enlarged after each time of Misrepair in a vicious circle. Thus, accumulation of Misrepairs is focalized and self-accelerating. III. Focalized accumulation of Misrepairs leads to formation and growing of a “spot” or “plaque” in a tissue. Growing of a spot is self-accelerating, and old spots grow faster than new ones. New spots prefer to develop close to old ones, resulting in an in-homogenous distribution of spots. In conclusion, the inhomogeneous development of aging changes is a result of self-accelerating and focalized accumulation of Misrepairs; thus the process of aging is self-accelerating.