[Changes of bone marrow arteries with aging].

The purpose of this study was to investigate the mechanism of so-called senile anemia. Using bone marrow tissue specimens prepared from 168 patients autopsied at the Second Department of Pathology of Tokyo Medical University, we measured the area of fatty marrow tissue and the luminal cross-sectional area of feeding arteries for the marrow to assess the relationship of these parameters with aging. Conversion to fatty marrow progressed with aging, and fatty marrow made up more than 50% of the overall bone marrow area in patients aged over 60 years. The nucleated cell count decreased significantly (p < 0.01) in patients aged over 60 years. Furthermore, the luminal cross-sectional area of bone marrow feeding arteries also decreased gradually with aging, declining by 18% to 26% in patients aged over 50 years compared with patients in their third decade. A significant negative correlation (r = -0.228; p < 0.001) was found between the area of fatty marrow and the luminal cross-sectional area of the bone marrow feeding arteries. In conclusion, we suggest that artherosclerotic changes associated with aging in the bone marrow have an impact on hematopoietic function and may be one of the factors involved in the development of senile anemia.

[Pathology and treatment of anemia in the elderly].

An important background characteristic of anemia in the elderly is decrease in hematopoiesis due to aging. Factors influencing hematopoiesis in the elderly include changes in the distribution of hematopoietic tissue, changes in hematopoietic stem cell density and changes in the hematopoietic inductive microenvironment. In the present study, in order to assess changes in the bone marrow with aging, the fat tissue area, uncleated cell-count and cellularity in the bone marrow, in addition to changes in the diameter of the vascular lumen which result primarily from sclerotic changes in the dorsomedial artery of the bone marrow were determined in different age groups. The results revealed that all of the aforementioned factors changed significantly with aging. We also describe on the results of assays of inflammatory cytokines (IL-1, IL-6, TNF-alpha), lactoferrin and transferrin receptors in cases of anemia of chronic disorders (ACD) which own secondary to chronic inflammatory diseases and is known to frequently afflict the elderly.