器官对话与系统衰老探讨

Organ Communication and Systemic Aging

人口老龄化带来老年慢性疾病高发,为社会和个人带来极大的负担。老年慢性疾病多具有组织器官特异性,器官衰老是共同致病基础。理解器官衰老机制,从根本上延缓衰老,预警与防治老年慢性疾病,是实现健康老龄化和社会可持续发展的关键。本文以血管、脑、脂肪等组织器官为例,综述驱动系统衰老的关键组织器官的衰老特征、机制及其通过器官对话调控其他远程组织器官衰老乃至系统衰老的机理,展望了衰老时序性及系统性机制研究的挑战,从离体到在体、从量变到质变、从静态到动态解析衰老的时空调控机制。

Aging population are great burdens for society and individuals.Many of the life-threatening age-related diseases are tissue/organ specific,e.g.,cardiovascular diseases and dementia,for most of which the tissue/organ aging and degeneration are the common cause.Thus,understanding the mechanisms of tissue/organ aging would not only benefit the early diagnosis,prevention and treatment of age-related diseases,but also slow down aging and promote healthy society.Different tissues/organs senesce at different rates,are dictated by different markers and communicate with each other via the circulation and nervus systems.Specific tissues/organs,e.g.,vascular endothelium,adipose tissue and brain,could trigger organismal aging via systemic inflammation,and circulating factors.Aging is time dependent and systemic,and the future challenges of mechanistic study are the in vivo roles of cellular senescence at systemic level rather than in vitro cultured cells,the contributing roles of senescence in a quantitative manner,and the spatiotemporal characteristics of aging.