{"id":27715,"date":"2026-10-29T10:35:30","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T06:35:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/?p=27715"},"modified":"2026-10-29T10:41:53","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T06:41:53","slug":"aging-blood-vessels-first-human-endothelial-cell-atlas-and-new-perspectives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/aging-blood-vessels-first-human-endothelial-cell-atlas-and-new-perspectives\/","title":{"rendered":"Aging Blood Vessels: First Human Endothelial Cell Atlas and New Perspectives"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blood vessels do not age in the same way throughout the body. A new international study has created the first comprehensive atlas of human vascular aging, showing that the cells lining blood vessels change differently depending on the tissue they serve.<\/p>\n

The Human Aging Endothelial Cell Atlas, published in Nature Aging<\/em><\/a>, brings together gene-activity data from more than 375,000 human endothelial cells across 290 samples and 12 tissues. The research was led by Laura de Rooij at CeMM, the Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.<\/p>\n

Endothelial cells form the thin inner lining of blood vessels. They help regulate blood flow, control the movement of substances into surrounding tissue and coordinate responses to injury. They also support organ-specific functions, including forming a protective barrier in the brain and assisting filtration in the kidneys.<\/p>\n

A map built from existing data<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rather than collecting new tissue samples, the researchers combined data from 34 previously published single-cell studies. They focused on tissue classified as healthy or non-diseased, aiming to identify molecular changes associated with aging rather than changes primarily caused by diagnosed disease.<\/p>\n

Single-cell analysis allowed the team to examine gene activity in individual endothelial cells rather than treating blood vessels as a single uniform structure. The result is a resource that researchers can use to compare how vascular cells age in different parts of the body.<\/p>\n

Aging is not uniform<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the study\u2019s central findings is that endothelial aging varies across the vascular system. In cells lining veins, older donors showed reduced activity of several genes involved in forming new blood vessels. These cells can give rise to sprouts that develop into new vessels, an important part of vascular renewal.<\/p>\n

The authors caution that the study did not directly measure repair capacity, so it cannot prove that reduced gene activity causes impaired vessel renewal. But the finding offers a possible explanation for why blood vessels may become less capable of renewing themselves with age.<\/p>\n

Across multiple tissues, the researchers also observed increased activity of genes linked to inflammation and cellular senescence\u2014a state in which cells stop dividing and can affect their surroundings.<\/p>\n

How cells sense their environment<\/strong><\/p>\n

The atlas also revealed age-related changes in genes involved in mechanotransduction, the process by which endothelial cells respond to physical forces such as blood flow and the stiffness of surrounding tissue.<\/p>\n

In human skin samples, the researchers found that YAP, a protein involved in responding to mechanical forces, was more often located inside the nuclei of endothelial cells from older donors. This raises an unanswered question: whether increased YAP activity helps cells adapt to aging or contributes to declining vessel function.<\/p>\n

The researchers also identified a group of genes associated with p21, a protein that can slow or stop cell division. Comparisons with laboratory-grown endothelial cells and mouse models of accelerated aging supported a connection with senescence. However, because these genes are also involved in stress responses and vessel growth, they cannot reliably identify permanently senescent cells.<\/p>\n

A resource, not yet a treatment<\/strong><\/p>\n

The atlas is intended as a research tool. An accompanying interactive portal will allow scientists to explore molecular changes across tissues and identify directions for future experiments.<\/p>\n

The study has important limitations. It compared people of different ages rather than following the same individuals over time, and information about donors\u2019 lifestyles and medical histories was incomplete. These factors limit how much can be concluded about the causes and consequences of vascular aging.<\/p>\n

Even so, the work provides a more detailed picture of how blood vessels change with age. Some molecular shifts may contribute to declining vascular function, while others may reflect protective adaptations. Distinguishing between the two will be essential before researchers can develop ways to keep blood vessels healthier for longer.<\/p>\n


Source: <\/span>CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blood vessels do not age in the same way throughout the body. A new international study has created the first comprehensive atlas of human vascular aging, showing that the cells lining blood vessels change differently depending on the tissue they serve. The Human Aging Endothelial Cell Atlas, published in Nature Aging, brings together gene-activity data […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":27716,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1587],"tags":[7648,7650,7649],"class_list":["post-27715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-research","tag-aging-blood-vessels","tag-austrian-academy-of-sciences","tag-first-human-endothelial-cell-atlas"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27715"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27719,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27715\/revisions\/27719"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}