In recent years, there has been a significant increase in age-related diseases due to the improvement in life expectancy worldwide. The pancreas undergoes various morphological and pathological changes with aging, such as pancreatic atrophy, fatty degeneration, fibrosis, inflammatory cell infiltration, and exocrine pancreatic metaplasia. Meanwhile, these may predispose the individuals to aging-related diseases, such as diabetes, dyspepsia, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, and pancreatitis, as the endocrine and exocrine functions of the pancreas are significantly affected by aging. Pancreatic senescence is associated with various underlying factors including genetic damage, DNA methylation, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and inflammation. This paper reviews the alternations of morphologies and functions in the aging pancreas, especially β-cells, closely related to insulin secretion. Finally, we summarize the mechanisms of pancreatic senescence to provide potential targets for treating pancreatic aging-related diseases.
Keyphrases
- dna methylation
- oxidative stress
- dna damage
- endothelial cells
- type diabetes
- endoplasmic reticulum
- induced apoptosis
- gene expression
- genome wide
- stress induced
- systematic review
- single cell
- randomized controlled trial
- risk assessment
- metabolic syndrome
- adipose tissue
- endoplasmic reticulum stress
- climate change
- fatty acid
- gastroesophageal reflux disease