
One of Georgi Gladyshev’s aging diagrams (Ѻ) showing hypothetical Gibbs energy change per existence stage.

One of Georgi Gladyshev’s aging diagrams (Ѻ) showing hypothetical Gibbs energy change per existence stage.

In processes, aging is any change, e.g. physical, psychological, and social, in an organism over time.

Temperature
In 1975, experiments showed that the longevity L of fruit flies has been shown to vary inversely with ambient temperature T, which in formulaic terms would be stated in a form similar to the following equation: [6]

$L = \frac{k}{T} \,$

where k is a proportionality constant, determined by experiment.

Entropy
In the 1962 book Time, Cells, and Aging, American biologist Bernard Strehler devotes a section to how entropy relates to aging. [4]

In 2002, American physicist Jack Hokikian argued that aging and increase in entropy are synonymous, in that living organisms age with the passage of time because their entropy increases. In terms of aging and irreversibility, Hokikian states: [3]

“The question of whether biological aging is a reversible process boils down to asking, can we transform ourselves, ‘body and mind’, in totality, to an earlier state?”

In answer to this, citing the 1980 work of Belgian chemist Ilya Prigogine, Hokikian concludes that “as Prigogine points out, this is impossible.”

Gladyshev's model
In 1976, Russian physical chemist Georgi Gladyshev, began to develop a model of the human body as non-steady state chromatographic column such that nutritive particles migrate, up or down, along thermodynamic gradients and hierarchies in the body mediating the rate of aging. [1]

In the 1990s, Gladyshev began to conceive of the human organism as complex non-steady state chromatograph column, such that upon digestion of food-stuffs, in which some part of sustenance first reacts with hydrochloric acid and enzymes to break-down in the stomach, the nutritive particle molecules will then each migrate to different parts of the human molecular structure based on their relative thermodynamic stability and their relative chemical affinities for different intra-molecular attachment sites within the body. In 2005, through exchanges with American chemical engineer Libb Thims, Gladyshev began to conceive of his model via the logic of the human molecule – the body.

Gladyshev identifies "nutritive particle molecules" or nutritive molecules are identified as the molecules or their fragments which do not undergo change in a digestive path (or in the penetration into skin and membranes) and get (penetrate) in blood and physiological liquids of organisms. The role of such molecules is carried out with the fragments of molecules of foodstuff, some medicines and the molecules containing in food additives (supplements). The interaction of nutritive particle molecules with supramolecular structures of an organism, including hereditary molecules of DNA and RNA, according to Gladyshev, can proceed without direct contact of these molecules to the mentioned structures.

Gladyshev argues that, according to supramolecular thermodynamics, one can investigate the supramolecular structures represent nanostructural and macro-structural formations. Thermodynamic quasi-equilibriums in these structures can be reached without direct contact between molecules and their fragments. These interactions, for example, extend through structured water which easily changes the conformation of structures. Unlike the chemistry, which considers thermodynamics of interaction between separate molecules, the supramolecular thermodynamics studies intermolecular interactions in macro-volumes rather greater sizes. The conformational variations of supramolecular structures of these volumes are reflected in variation of average specific Gibbs function of the formation of these structures, G im (im – intermolecular interactions).

The nutritive molecules influence on conformation of DNA and RNA and their supramolecular fragments. As a result of the action of such substances, dormant ancient genes, accumulated during the evolution of living beings, may be activated. It can lead to display (expression) fragments of DNA (RNA), responsible for hereditary diseases (atherosclerosis, diabetes, cancer and so on) as well as to lead to occurrence concerning the positive effects assisting a survival in a changing environment (inhabitancy). Concepts about (concerning) nutritive molecules apply to all living world including plants and so on. The action of nutritive molecules in many respects defines processes of ageing of organisms and biological evolution. These conclusions of supramolecular thermodynamics, according to Gladyshev, prove to be true according to both earlier and newer experimental data. [2]

References
1. (a) Gladyshev, Georgi P. (2001). "Thermodynamic Theory Answers the Questions: What is the Driving Force Behind Biological Evolution, and Why do We Age?" August; Endeav.org.
(b) Gladyshev, Georgi P. (2008). A burning candle wick is a model of living system
2. (a) Gladyshev G.P. (1978). "On the Thermodynamics of Biological Evolution" J. Theor. Biol. Vol. 75. pgs. 425-441
(b) Gladyshev G.P. (1997). Thermodynamic Theory of the Evolution of Living Beings. - N.Y.: Nova Sci. Publ. Inc.. 142 p.
(c) Gladyshev G. P. (1999). "Supramolecular thermodynamics of Genes and Aging." Advance in Gerontol. Vol 3. p. 65-67. (In Russian).
(d) Gladyshev G.P. Thermodynamic self-organization as a mechanism of hierarchical structures formation of biological matter // Progress in Reaction Kinetics and Mechanism (An International Review Journal. UK, USA). - 2003. - Vol. 28. – No. 2. - P. 157-188.
(e) Gladyshev G.P. Macrothermodynamics of Biological Evolution: Aging of Living Beings // International Journal of Modern Physics B. - 2004. –Vol. 18. – No. 6. - P. 801-825.
(f) Thims, Libb. (2007). Human Chemistry (Volume One), (preview). Morrisville, NC: LuLu.
(g) Thims, Libb. (2007). Human Chemistry (Volume Two), (preview). Morrisville, NC: LuLu.
(i) Thims, Libb. (2005). "Thermodynamic Evolution", Chicago: Institute of Human Thermodynamics.
(j) Gladyshev G. P. The thermodynamic theory of aging in action: medical nutrition recommendations for patients of any age. Anti-Aging Therapeutics. Ed. Dr.R. Klats and Dr.R. Goldman, Volume IX, American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M), 2007, Chicago, IL, USA Chapter 20, p. 135-152.
(k) Gladyshev G.P. Mechanism of influence of foodstuff on healthy longevity. Advance in Gerontol. 2008. V 21, № 1. p. 34-36. (In Russian).
(m) Rudd, L, Lee, DJ, Kornyshev, AA, The role of electrostatics in the B to A transition of DNA: from solution to assembly, J PHYS-CONDENS MAT, 2007, Vol: 19, ISSN: 0953-8984.
3. Hokikian, Jack. (2002). The Science of Disorder: Understanding the Complexity, Uncertainty, and Pollution in Our World (pg. 68). Los Feliz Publishing.
4. Strehler, Bernard L. (1977). Time, Cells, and Aging (Entropy, pg. 10-27), 2nd ed. Academic Press.
5. Prigogine, Ilya. (1980). From Being to Becoming (pg. 212). W.H. Freeman.
6. (a) Miquel J, Lundgren PR, Bensch KG, Atlan H (1976). "The effects of temperature on the aging process have been investigated in approximately 3500 imagoes of male Drosophila melanogaster". Mechanisms of Aging and Development 5(5): 347–370.
(b) Ragland SS, Sohal RS (1975). "Ambient temperature, physical activity and aging in the housefly, Musca domestica". Experimental Gerontology 10 (5): 279–289.

Further reading
● Speakman JR, Selman C, McLaren JS, Harper EJ (2002). "Living fast, dying when? The link between aging and energetics." The Journal of Nutrition 132(6, Supplement 2): 1583S–1597S.
● Silvia, Carlos and Annamalia, Kalyan. (2008). “Entropy Generation and Human Aging: Lifespan Entropy and Effect of Physical Activity Level”, Entropy, Vol. 10 (2), pgs. 100-23.
● Silva, Carlos A. and Annamalai, Kalyan. (2009). “Entropy Generation and Human Aging: Lifespan Entropy and Effect of Diet Composition and Caloric Restriction Diets.” Journal of Thermodynamics, 10-pgs.
● Gladyshev, Georgi P. (2010). “Thermodynamic Theory Answer the Question: What is the Driving Force Behind Biological Evolution?”, CreatAcad.org.

External links
● Aging – Wikipedia.