Organ-Specific Regulation of Systemic Aging: Focus on the Brain, Skeletal Muscle, and Gut
As global population aging accelerates, the growing burden of age-related diseases is driving a shift in medical research from single-disease treatment to interventions targeting the aging process itself. Organ-specific interventions have emerged as a promising strategy to modulate systemic aging. Among organs, the brain, muscle, and gut have attracted particular attention due to their central roles in neural regulation, metabolic homeostasis, and immune balance. In this review, we focus on these three key organs, systematically summarizing their roles and regulatory mechanisms in organismal aging and discussing how exercise influences the aging process by affecting these organs. Crucially, we propose a novel "local-to-global" regulatory model, positing that preserving homeostasis in these specific tissues is sufficient to orchestrate systemic anti-aging effects. This work represents a conceptual advance by providing the theoretical rationale to move beyond non-specific systemic treatments toward precise, organ-targeted interventions.
Authors
- ChengRui LIU
- Yulin Shu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0486-3586)
- J. J. Fu
- Ping Li
- Yuxin Jiang
- Kai Yao
Institutions
- Wuhan University of Science and Technology (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Cells
- Published
- 2026-01-14
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3390/cells15020153
- Primary Topic
- Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- National Key Research and Development Program of China