Adaptation and Study of Ageing 67 



We are also moving nearer to the solution of another prob- 

 lem: the continuously increasing capacity of tissues to bind 

 calcium (Freydberg and Verzar, 1956). The older the animal 

 the larger is the calcium turnover in aorta, lung, brain and ten- 

 dons, while at the same time it has rapidly decreased in the 

 bones. It has been pointed out by others (Banga, 1953) that, 

 with the breakdown of collagen, di-amino acids which have a 

 great affinity for the calcium ion become free in the fibre pro- 

 tein. The calcification of the tissues may be a direct conse- 

 quence of the same process which changes the collagen fibres 

 into elastin-Hke tissue and also breaks down the elastic fibre 

 into amorphous material. 



With this we have reached the realm of protein chemistry 

 as a fundamental part of research on adaptation changes, 

 which might become the basic phenomenon of ageing. 



It will, I believe, be the main object of future research on 

 ageing to understand the facts which are responsible for those 

 changes of the proteins of cells and tissues which lead to the 

 decreased capacity of the aged individual to adapt himself to 

 the constant changes in conditions of life. 



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Bjorksten, J. (1951). Advanc. Protein Chem., 6, 357. 



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Research on Ageing. Basel : Birkhauser-Verlag. 

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