Department of Geriatrics, Neurosciences and Orthopedics, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy.
Institute of Sciences of Food Production, National Research Council, Bari, Italy.
Mediators Inflamm. 2018 Jan 30;2018:7026198. doi: 10.1155/2018/7026198. eCollection 2018.
Advanced age is characterized by several changes, one of which is the impairment of the homeostasis of intestinal microbiota. These alterations critically influence host health and have been associated with morbidity and mortality in older adults. "Inflammaging," an age-related chronic inflammatory process, is a common trait of several conditions, including sarcopenia. Interestingly, imbalanced intestinal microbial community has been suggested to contribute to inflammaging. Changes in gut microbiota accompanying sarcopenia may be attenuated by supplementation with pre- and probiotics. Although muscle aging has been increasingly recognized as a biomarker of aging, the pathophysiology of sarcopenia is to date only partially appreciated. Due to its development in the context of the age-related inflammatory milieu, several studies favor the hypothesis of a tight connection between sarcopenia and inflammaging. However, conclusive evidence describing the signaling pathways involved has not yet been produced. Here, we review the current knowledge of the changes in intestinal microbiota that occur in advanced age with a special emphasis on findings supporting the idea of a modulation of muscle physiology through alterations in gut microbial composition and activity.
高龄的特点是发生多种变化，其中之一是肠道微生物组的动态平衡受损。这些改变严重影响宿主的健康，并与老年人的发病率和死亡率相关。“炎老化”是一种与年龄相关的慢性炎症过程，是多种疾病（包括肌少症）的共同特征。有趣的是，肠道微生物群落失衡被认为有助于炎老化。肌少症伴随的肠道微生物群落的变化可能通过补充益生菌和益生元而得到缓解。虽然肌肉老化已被越来越多地认为是衰老的生物标志物，但肌少症的病理生理学至今仍未被完全理解。由于其是在与年龄相关的炎症环境中发展起来的，因此有几项研究支持肌少症和炎老化之间存在紧密联系的假说。然而，目前还没有确凿的证据描述涉及的信号通路。在这里，我们综述了高龄时肠道微生物组发生的变化的现有知识，特别强调了通过改变肠道微生物组成和活性来调节肌肉生理学的观点的支持性发现。
