Improving intestinal inflammaging to delay aging? A new perspective

• Published in: Mechanisms of ageing and development 2023-09, Vol.214, p.111841-111841, Article 111841
• Main Authors: Zhang, Lan, Yan, Junbin, Zhang, Chi, Feng, Shuyan, Zhan, Zheli, Bao, Yang, Zhang, Shuo, Chao, Guanqun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aging; Anti-aging; Anti-inflammatory therapies; Chronic inflammation; Intestinal barrier; Intestine
• ISSN: 0047-6374; 1872-6216
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mad.2023.111841

Greying population is becoming an increasingly critical issue for social development. In advanced aging context, organismal multiple tissues and organs experience a progressive deterioration, initially presenting with functional decline, followed by structural disruption and eventually organ failure. The aging of the gut is one of the key links. Decreased gut function leads to reduced nutrient absorption and can perturb systemic metabolic rates. The degeneration of the intestinal structure causes the migration of harmful components such as pathogens and toxins, inducing pathophysiological changes in other organs through the "brain-gut axis" and "liver-gut axis". There is no accepted singular underlying mechanism of aged gut. While the inflamm-aging theory was first proposed in 2000, the mutual promotion of chronic inflammation and aging has attracted much attention. Numerous studies have established that gut microbiome composition, gut immune function, and gut barrier integrity are involved in the formation of inflammaging in the aging gut. Remarkably, inflammaging additionally drives the development of aging-like phenotypes, such as microbiota dysbiosis and impaired intestinal barrier, via a broad array of inflammatory mediators. Here we demonstrate the mechanisms of inflammaging in the gut and explore whether aging-like phenotypes in the gut can be negated by improving gut inflammaging. •We reviewed published research on the interplay between aging processes and inflammaging in the gut.•We dissected the role of declining intestinal barrier defenses in the development of intestinal inflammaging.•Intestinal inflammaging was further found to accelerate the deterioration of the aging gut barrier.•Multiple anti-inflammatory therapies have been discovered that may combat gut aging by altering aging gut phenotypes.