Towards a life prolonging pill? Small molecules with anti-ageing properties.

While at present there is no scientific consensus on the reasons for cellular and organismal ageing--or indeed on a comprehensive definition for ageing--scientific efforts to unravel the complex biochemistry behind the ageing process have recently met with considerable success. Despite a still somewhat fragmented understanding of the phenomenon of ageing, a distinction has therefore become possible between those biochemical and physiological events that are causal to ageing, and those that merely accompany the process. Such a distinction is an important prerequisite for the selection of targets for pharmacological intervention, and for the design of "anti-ageing drugs" directed against these targets. This review looks from a chemical viewpoint at currently used model systems for the ageing process, at small molecules showing anti-ageing properties in these screens, and at their mechanisms of action.