The vasculopathy of aging

Aging-induced vasculopathy leads to thickening of vessel walls and restructuring of extracellular and cellular matrix components, resulting in atherosclerosis and hypertension. Excessive deposition of smooth muscle cells, mononuclear cells and collagen occurs. Vasculopathy suppresses the development of endothelium derived relaxing factor that mediates the functions of vascular tissues. Elastin, medial collagen muscle and advanced glycosylation end product levels reduce with age-induced vasculopathy.