Microvasculature remodeling in the mouse lower gut during inflammaging

Inflammaging is defined as low-grade, chronic, systemic inflammation in aging, in the absence of overt infection. Age-associated deterioration of gastrointestinal function could be ascribed to the inflammaging, although evidence is yet to emerge. Here we show that microvessels in aging mouse intestine were progressively deprived of supportive structures, microvessel-associated pericytes and adherens junction protein vascular endothelial (VE)-cadherin, and became leaky. This alteration was ascribed to up-regulation of angiopoetin-2 in microvascular endothelial cells. Up-regulation of the angiopoietin-2 was by TNF-α, originated from M2-like residential CD206(+) macrophages, proportion of which increases as animal ages. It was concluded that antigenic burdens encountered in intestine throughout life create the condition of chronic stage of inflammation, which accumulates M2-like macrophages expressing TNF-α. The TNF-α induces vascular leakage to facilitate recruitment of immune cells into intestine under the chronic inflammatory setting.