Considering impact of age and sex on cardiac cytoskeletal components

Abstract

The cardiac cytoskeletal components are integral to cardiomyocyte function and are responsible for contraction, sustaining cell structure, and providing scaffolding to direct signaling. Cytoskeletal components have been implicated in cardiac pathology; however, less attention has been paid to age-related modifications of cardiac cytoskeletal components and how these contribute to dysfunction with increased age. Moreover, significant sex differences in cardiac aging have been identified, but we still lack a complete understanding to the mechanisms behind these differences. This review summarizes what is known about how key cardiomyocyte cytoskeletal components are modified because of age, as well as reported sex-specific differences. Thorough consideration of both age and sex as integral players in cytoskeletal function may reveal potential avenues for more personalized therapeutics.

Keywords: age; cytoskeleton; intermediate filaments; microtubules; sarcomeres.

Figure 1.

Summary of reported changes in cardiac cytoskeletal components with age. The cardiac cytoskeletal network is a complex component of the cardiomyocyte. A simplified schematic of the cytoskeletal elements and their interactions is depicted. The cardiac cytoskeletal components that are changed with age are summarized (right) with changes being grouped by whether they occur in both sexes or occur more in one sex than the other. Figure was created using a licensed version of BioRender.com.