Kidney disease in aging

There is an increasing number of elderly patients with glomerulonephritis. A number of reports regarding renal function [1-9] and morphology [10-13] in aged people have been published. However, few studies have been reported on the effect of glomerulonephritis on the kidneys of aged patients. Recently, some articles concerning renal function and histological changes in aged nephritic patients were reported [14]. Several reports about the effects of aging in an experimental kidney disease model [15-23] and on cultured renal cells [22, 24, 25] have been published. This review will focus mainly on the mechanisms of the decrease in renal function and morphological changes with aging.