Acquired Resilience: An Evolved System of Tissue Protection in Mammals
Jonathan Stone,
John Mitrofanis,
Daniel M. Johnstone,
Benedetto Falsini,
Silvia Bisti,
Paul Adam,
Arturo Bravo Nuevo,
Mindy George-Weinstein,
Rebecca Mason,
Janis Eells
Affiliations
Jonathan Stone
Discipline of Physiology, Bosch Institute of Medical Research, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
John Mitrofanis
Discipline of Anatomy and Histology, Bosch Institute of Medical Research, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Daniel M. Johnstone
Discipline of Physiology, Bosch Institute of Medical Research, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Benedetto Falsini
Facolta’ di Medicina e Chirurgia, Fondazione Policlinico A. Gemelli, Universita’ Cattolica del S. Cuore, Rome, Italy
Silvia Bisti
Department of Biotechnical and Applied Clinical Sciences, Università degli Studi dell’Aquila, IIT Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia Genova and INBB Istituto Nazionale Biosistemi e Biostrutture, Rome, Italy
Paul Adam
School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Arturo Bravo Nuevo
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Mindy George-Weinstein
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Rebecca Mason
Discipline of Physiology, Bosch Institute of Medical Research, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Janis Eells
College of Health Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA
This review brings together observations on the stress-induced regulation of resilience mechanisms in body tissues. It is argued that the stresses that induce tissue resilience in mammals arise from everyday sources: sunlight, food, lack of food, hypoxia and physical stresses. At low levels, these stresses induce an organised protective response in probably all tissues; and, at some higher level, cause tissue destruction. This pattern of response to stress is well known to toxicologists, who have termed it hormesis. The phenotypes of resilience are diverse and reports of stress-induced resilience are to be found in journals of neuroscience, sports medicine, cancer, healthy ageing, dementia, parkinsonism, ophthalmology and more. This diversity makes the proposing of a general concept of induced resilience a significant task, which this review attempts. We suggest that a system of stress-induced tissue resilience has evolved to enhance the survival of animals. By analogy with acquired immunity, we term this system ‘acquired resilience’. Evidence is reviewed that acquired resilience, like acquired immunity, fades with age. This fading is, we suggest, a major component of ageing. Understanding of acquired resilience may, we argue, open pathways for the maintenance of good health in the later decades of human life.
