[Cerebral aging and mitochondria].

There are multiple evidences that corroborate the importance of mitochondrial dysfunction in the pathogenesis of cellular destruction that causes the aging, and that oxidative stress is the main inductor of these alterations. Damage of the mitochondrial DNA (deletions, duplications), defects of the respiratory chain function, and varied structural modifications have been described in humans and animals with the age. This mitochondrial damage, caused by the progressive action of oxidative stress, would influence in the mechanisms of maintenance of the cell, causing its death. We revised the most important discoveries regarding mitochondrial alterations with aging.