Aging is a gradual process during the loss of functions in cells,organs and tissues by time. The molecular mechanisms of aging-related theories include the classical ones such as telomere,oxygen radical and nonenzymatic glycosylation,as well as the newly proposed ones such as DNA methylation,mitochondrial DNA （mtDNA）and autophagy. The latest study showed the anti-aging effect of autophagy in hematopoietic stem cells. In recent years,based on the molecular regulative mechanisms of aging,a number of the promising anti-aging drugs have been found,including nicotinamide mononucleotide（NMN）and FOXO4-DRI,a peptide of anti-aging. In addition,there are many new discoveries in the field of plant extracts,in which,the extracts from Chinese herbal medicine（CHM）,some single CHMs and the classical prescriptions of CHM,represented by curcumin and resveratrol,have the partial anti-aging effects by regulating the molecular mechanisms of aging both in vivo and in vitro. In brief,developing or exploring anti-aging drugs,especially the natural drugs,is one of the main development directions in the field of anti-aging research in the basis of the molecular regulative mechanisms of aging.
Keywords: Chinese herbal medicine; aging; anti-aging; autophagy; molecular mechanism.
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