Department of Dermatology, Dessau Medical Center, Germany.
Exp Gerontol. 2010 Oct;45(10):801-13. doi: 10.1016/j.exger.2010.08.005. Epub 2010 Aug 16.
The importance of the endocrine environment in the initiation of the ageing process has been elucidated in several in vivo and in vitro studies. Changes in endocrine pathways accompany healthy ageing, these include the growth hormone/insulin-like growth factor-I axis (somatopause) and that of sexual hormones, namely estradiol (menopause), testosterone (andropause), and dehydroepiandrosterone and its sulphate (adrenopause). The clinical significance of these changes is variable and results in morphological and functional alterations of all organ systems including the skin and the central nervous system. Moreover, the pathogenesis of age-associated diseases such as epithelial skin cancer and neurodegenerative diseases has been partly attributed to the lack of hormones. Several studies have been conducted in an attempt to reverse the ageing process and clinical signs by substitution of the serum hormone levels in older individuals, however the benefits of hormone replacement therapy, if any, are still controversial. On the other hand, recent data suggest that skin is a window to the human organism and represents an adequate model for ageing research, also implying the use of skin samples for evaluating the ageing status of the central nervous system.
内分泌环境在衰老过程的启动中的重要性已经在一些体内和体外研究中阐明。内分泌途径的变化伴随着健康衰老，包括生长激素/胰岛素样生长因子-I 轴（somatopause）和性激素，即雌二醇（更年期）、睾酮（andropause）、脱氢表雄酮及其硫酸盐（adrenopause）。这些变化的临床意义是可变的，导致包括皮肤和中枢神经系统在内的所有器官系统的形态和功能改变。此外，与年龄相关的疾病的发病机制，如上皮性皮肤癌和神经退行性疾病，部分归因于激素的缺乏。已经进行了一些研究，试图通过替代老年个体的血清激素水平来逆转衰老过程和临床症状，然而，激素替代疗法的益处（如果有的话）仍然存在争议。另一方面，最近的数据表明，皮肤是人体的一扇窗户，代表了衰老研究的一个合适模型，也意味着使用皮肤样本来评估中枢神经系统的衰老状态。
