Role of Free Radicals in Mutation, Cancer, Aging, and the Maintenance of Life

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Abstract
Mutation, cancer, and aging are attributed basically to the side effects of endogenously formed free radicals. Evidence is presented for the formation of these radicals along with considerations of how they might produce their effects as well as possible differences in the mode of action of endogenous and radiation-induced radicals. Experimental work on the aging process based on the above hypothesis has been encouraging: Several antioxidants were found to increase the half-survival time of AKR and C3H mice; the prolongation with 2-mercaptoethylamine was around 20%. Serum mercaptan levels, as predicted by the free radical hypothesis, were found to decrease with age. This free radical hypothesis raises the possibility that the continued survival of living things in a changing environment is fundamentally a result of the selection by them of reactions that not only serve as major sources of energy but also, through the intermediate formation of active free radicals, provide, on the one hand, for mutation[long dash]and hence of evolution and survival[long dash]and, on the other, and by essentially the same mechanism, for cancer and aging. The latter two phenomena can be considered to play a useful role, and possibly a necessary one, in the evolutionary process by aiding in the disposal of old organisms after they have provided new "experiments" for evaluation against the environment.