Understanding angiogenesis during aging: opportunities for discoveries and new models

Microvascular network growth and remodeling are common denominators for most age-related pathologies. For multiple pathologies (myocardial infarction, stroke, hypertension), promoting microvascular growth, termed angiogenesis, would be beneficial. For others (cancer, retinopathies, rheumatoid arthritis), blocking angiogenesis would be desirable. Most therapeutic strategies, however, are motivated based on studies using adult animal models. This approach is problematic and does not account for the impaired angiogenesis or the inherent network structure changes that might result from age. Considering the common conception that angiogenesis is impaired with age, a need exists to identify the causes and mechanisms of angiogenesis in aged scenarios and for new tools to enable comparison of aged versus adult responses to therapy. The objective of this article is to introduce opportunities for advancing our understanding of angiogenesis in aging through the discovery of novel cell changes along aged microvascular networks and the development of novel ex vivo models.