Age-Related Left Ventricular Changes and Their Association with Leukocyte Telomere Length in Healthy People.
BACKGROUND
With advancing age the left ventricle (LV) undergoes structural and functional changes, thereby creating the substrate for the development of diseases. One possible mechanism of the ageing heart is a cellular senescence. Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) is a marker of replicative ageing. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the structure and function of the LV in people of different ages free of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and regular drug medication and to assess their relationship with LTL. We hypothesized that age-related changes in LV myocardium are associated with telomere length.


METHODS
The study population consisted of 150 healthy, non-obese volunteers aged 28 to 78 years without history of CVD, significant deviations by 12-lead electrocardiogram and negative exercise test (treadmill stress test). All the participants underwent standardized transthoracic echocardiography using an available system (iE33; Philips). The LTL was measured by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. We determined the relative ratio of telomere repeat copy number (T) to single-copy gene copy number (S).


RESULTS
In the older people there was a higher wall thickness than in the younger (1.03 ± 0.09 vs. 0.88 ± 0.10, p<0.01), whereas LV mass index was comparable between them (85.8 ± 15.40 vs. 83.1 ± 11.8, p = 0.20). There was a decrease in LV dimensions with advancing age (p<0.001). Older subjects had impairment in LV relaxation. LTL was associated with decreased E/A, Em/Am ratio (β = -0.323, p = 0.0001) after adjusting for age, sex and risk factors. There is no relation between the LTL and the structure of LV.


CONCLUSIONS
Our data suggest that the ageing process leads to changes in LV structure and diastolic function and is linked with a phenotype of concentric LV remodeling. Telomere attrition is associated with age-related LV diastolic dysfunction. Telomere length appears to be a biomarker of myocardial ageing.
Department of study the ageing and prevent age-associated diseases, National Research Center for Preventive Medicine, Moscow, Russian Federation.
Dariga U
DU
Akasheva
Department of study the ageing and prevent age-associated diseases, National Research Center for Preventive Medicine, Moscow, Russian Federation.
Ekaterina V
EV
Plokhova
Department of study the ageing and prevent age-associated diseases, National Research Center for Preventive Medicine, Moscow, Russian Federation.
Olga N
ON
Tkacheva
Department of study the ageing and prevent age-associated diseases, National Research Center for Preventive Medicine, Moscow, Russian Federation.
Irina D
ID
Strazhesko
Department of study the ageing and prevent age-associated diseases, National Research Center for Preventive Medicine, Moscow, Russian Federation.
Ekaterina N
EN
Dudinskaya
Department of study the ageing and prevent age-associated diseases, National Research Center for Preventive Medicine, Moscow, Russian Federation.
Anna S
AS
Kruglikova
Department of study the ageing and prevent age-associated diseases, National Research Center for Preventive Medicine, Moscow, Russian Federation.
Valentina S
VS
Pykhtina
Department of study the ageing and prevent age-associated diseases, National Research Center for Preventive Medicine, Moscow, Russian Federation.
Natalia V
NV
Brailova
Department of study the ageing and prevent age-associated diseases, National Research Center for Preventive Medicine, Moscow, Russian Federation.
Inna A
IA
Pokshubina
Department of study the ageing and prevent age-associated diseases, National Research Center for Preventive Medicine, Moscow, Russian Federation.
Natalia V
NV
Sharashkina
Department of study the ageing and prevent age-associated diseases, National Research Center for Preventive Medicine, Moscow, Russian Federation.
Mikhail V
MV
Agaltsov
Department of Chemistry, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian Federation.
Dmitry
D
Skvortsov
Department of study the ageing and prevent age-associated diseases, National Research Center for Preventive Medicine, Moscow, Russian Federation.
Sergey A
SA
Boytsov
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D059505:Telomere Homeostasis; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left