Vascular Niches Are The Primary Hotspots In Cardiac Aging
As we age, our hearts can become less efficient, often due to issues like inflammation and the formation of scar tissue. For a long time, it was thought that these problems primarily affected the heart’s main muscle cells. However, new research suggests a different story.
Scientists have discovered that the key areas where the heart truly shows its age are the “vascular niches”—the tiny environments surrounding the blood vessels. These niches act as “hotspots” for age-related damage. Here, cells enter a state called “senescence,” often referred to as “zombie cells” because they stop dividing but don’t die, instead releasing harmful substances that promote inflammation and damage to surrounding healthy cells. These senescent cells also develop ways to hide from the body’s immune system, preventing their clearance.
Within these vascular niches, there’s also a significant shift in the immune cell population. There’s an increase in “bad cops”—inflammatory immune cells called macrophages that are recruited from the bone marrow—and a decrease in the “good cops,” which are protective immune cells normally residing in the heart. This imbalance fuels a chronic, low-grade inflammation, a process termed “inflammaging,” and contributes to the buildup of scar tissue, known as fibrosis, making the heart stiffer.
Crucially, this research indicates that drugs designed to clear these senescent cells, called “senolytics,” can help reduce some of these age-related changes. This discovery shifts our understanding of heart aging, suggesting that targeting the support structures around the blood vessels, rather than just the heart muscle itself, could be a more effective strategy for developing treatments to keep our hearts healthy as we get older.
Source: link to paper