Sexual dimorphism: the aging kidney, involvement of nitric oxide deficiency, and angiotensin II overactivity

Females develop less age-dependent loss of renal function, which may be in part due to cardiorenal protective effects of estrogens. The impact of androgen level on cardiovascular-renal health is controversial. Estrogen acts through multiple mechanisms, sometimes beneficial, sometimes damaging, which...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences Biological sciences and medical sciences, 2012-12, Vol.67 (12), p.1365-1372
Main Author: Baylis, Chris
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ACE inhibitors
Aged
Aging - physiology
Androgens - physiology
Angiotensin II - physiology
Animals
Cardiovascular disease
Estrogens
Female
Glomerular Filtration Rate - physiology
Humans
Kidney diseases
Kidney Glomerulus - physiology
Male
Nitric oxide
Nitric Oxide - deficiency
Oxidative Stress - physiology
Review
Sex Characteristics
Womens health
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Summary:Females develop less age-dependent loss of renal function, which may be in part due to cardiorenal protective effects of estrogens. The impact of androgen level on cardiovascular-renal health is controversial. Estrogen acts through multiple mechanisms, sometimes beneficial, sometimes damaging, which makes it difficult to predict the effect of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in an aging population. Nitric oxide (NO) deficiency occurs in aging and contributes to age-dependent cardiovascular risk and kidney damage. The increased oxidative stress of aging has effects at multiple sites in the NO biosynthetic pathway to lower NO production/action. Loss of NO together with activated angiotensin promotes some of the decrements in cardiovascular-renal function seen with age, which may be related to actions of the sex steroids.
ISSN:1079-5006
1758-535X
DOI:10.1093/gerona/gls171