Endothelial Cell Senescence can Impair Insulin Sensitivity

The growing presence of senescent cells contributes to near all of the declines and tissue dysfunctions of aging, judging by the results produced in extensive research carried out in animal models of age-related disease. Senescent cells secrete a mix of inflammatory and other signals that, when present for the long term, cause considerable harm to tissue structure, function, and maintenance. The research here is focused on just one form of dysfunction, but is illustrative of many other studies in the field of senescence carried out in recent years. Endothelial cells (ECs) line the inner surface of blood vessels, and plays an essential role in vascular biology, such as vasodilation, hormone trafficking, and neovessel formation. Moreover, EC produces many secreted angiocrine factors that are crucially involved in maintaining tissue homeostasis. Aging causes cellular senescence in various types of cells including EC, and cellular senescence plays an important role in age-related organ dysfunction. Senescent cells produce senescence-messaging secretomes that have deleterious effects on the tissue microenvironment, referred as the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP); therefore, cellular senescence is considered to be a primary cause for age-related diseases, such as diabetes, stroke, and heart attack. Because of the crucial roles of EC in tissue homeostasis, EC senescence is presumed to play significant roles in age-related organ dysfunction; however, ...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs