Maoxuan Sun, Yongxu Chen

(Chongqing Medical University)

Abstract：

The aging of the population has led to a rising incidence of cardiovascular disease, and physical aging and cardiomyocyte aging often accompanies it. The cardiomyocyte aging is characterized by increased oxidative stress, cell cycle activity arrest , and metabolic disorders, which is mainly associated with molecular effects such as autophagy, mitochondrial dysfunction, telomere shortening and chronic inflammation. Among these pathways leading to cardiomyocyte aging, it is usually accompanied by abnormal expression and dysfunction of protein kinases. Particularly, mTOR can be involved in the generation and development of aging⁃associated cardiovascular disease through the activation of a series of cascading reactions. In this review, we focus on the mechanisms by which mTOR regulates cardiomyocyte aging, suggesting that mTOR may be an important target for preventing or treating cardiomyocyte aging in the future.

Key Words：

protein kinase; mammalian target of rapamycin; cardiomyocyte; aging; cardiovascular disease