Understanding biological ageing in terms of constitutive signals: Convergence to an average decrease in cellular sensitivity and information transmission

Abstract

Biological ageing is a process that encompasses observations often too heterogeneous to draw coherent conceptual frameworks that may shed light into the generality of the underlying gradual loss of function. Whilst the concept of stochastic damage is often invoked as the driver of the ageing process, this can be too abstract to understand ageing at a higher mechanistic resolution. However, there do exist general mechanisms that describe how stochastic damage interferes with biological function, such as through genetic mutations. In a similar manner, we argue that a ‘molecular habituation’ phenomenon occurs during biological ageing where constitutive signals arising from damage accumulation drive an average decrease in network sensitivity and information transmission, as well as an increase in noise, across cells and tissue.