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Review
. 2017 Oct 1;8(5):590-610.
doi: 10.14336/AD.2017.0430. eCollection 2017 Oct.

Age-related Impairment of Vascular Structure and Functions

Xianglai Xu  1   2 , Brian Wang  2 , Changhong Ren  2   3 , Jiangnan Hu  2 , David A Greenberg  4 , Tianxiang Chen  5 , Liping Xie  6 , Kunlin Jin  2
Affiliations
Review

Age-related Impairment of Vascular Structure and Functions

Xianglai Xu et al. Aging Dis. .

Abstract

Among age-related diseases, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases are major causes of death. Vascular dysfunction is a key characteristic of these diseases wherein age is an independent and essential risk factor. The present work will review morphological alterations of aging vessels in-depth, which includes the discussion of age-related microvessel loss and changes to vasculature involving the capillary basement membrane, intima, media, and adventitia as well as the accompanying vascular dysfunctions arising from these alterations.

Keywords: arterial stiffness; endothelial dysfunction; vascular aging; vascular remodeling.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Illustrated histology of the normal vessel and histological alterations of vascular aging and atherosclerosis
Cross sectional view of the arterial wall. (A) Normal artery. (B) Aged artery. It is characterized by a thickened vessel wall, thickened subendothelial layer, elastin fragments, VSMCs migration and invasion. (C) Atherosclerosis. It is characterized by the accumulation of plaque and the invasion of macrophages and foam cells.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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