Advances in research on altered cardiomyocyte autophagy and its regulatory mechanisms in the elderly / 中华老年医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Cardiomyocyte autophagy plays an important role in maintaining normal cardiac structure and function.Recent studies have shown that cardiomyocyte autophagy is decreased in the aging heart.The expression of autophagy-related genes Atg5, Atg7 and Beclin1 decreases in the aging myocardium.Decreased cardiomyocyte autophagy in the aging heart is associated with dysregulation of phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase(PI3K)/serine-threonine kinase(Akt)/mammalian target of rapamycin(mTOR), adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase(AMPK)and/or the SIRT1 signaling pathways.In addition, reactive oxygen species and some neural hormonal factors such as endothelin-1 can also mediate the decrease of cardiomyocyte autophagy in cardiac aging.The regulation of cardiomyocyte autophagy may provide new strategies for the prevention and treatment of cardiomyopathy in the elderly.