Restricted accessReview articleFirst published online 2016-8-23
The Role of Capillaries in the Lesser Ailments of Old Age and in Alzheimer’s Disease and Vascular Dementia: The Potential of Pro-Therapeutic Angiogenesis
Apart from chronic diseases (arthritis, diabetes, etc.), old age is generally
characterized by three lesser ailments: muscle weakness, minor memory lapses, and cold
intolerance. This trio of complaints may have a common, underlying cause, namely, the
age-associated reduced microcirculation in muscles, brain, skin, and elsewhere in the
body. The Angiogenesis Hypothesis proposes that old age is in part a deficiency disease
due to the decline in angiogenic (AG) factors, resulting in a reduced capillary density
(CD) throughout the body. Over fifty published papers document waning levels of AG factors
and/or decreased CD in various organ systems of aged animals and people, including those
with Alzheimer’s disease. The deficiency of AG factors is analogous to that of certain
hormones (e.g., testosterone) whose blood levels also decline with age. In theory,
therapeutic angiogenesis employing recombinant AG factors is a tenable treatment for the
lesser ailments of old age and may improve the later years of human life. An optimal
administration route may be intranasal.
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