Effects of animal-derived peptides on aging-related diseases: a narrative review

For many years, aging has been considered a pathological process that is prone to cause many diseases, and the term “aging-related diseases” has recently emerged. There are co-mechanisms between aging and the pathogenesis of these diseases, including stress adaptation, loss of protein balance, stem cell depletion, metabolic disorders, macromolecular damage, epigenetic modifications, and inflammatory responses. In the aging process of the human body, the accumulation of molecular, cellular and organ damage induces a series of diseases, such as autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular diseases, nervous system diseases, and metabolic diseases. In recent years, the growing aging population has led to increasingly serious age-related health challenges, creating an urgent need to identify therapeutic agents that can effectively delay or even treat aging-related diseases. Animal medicine is an important source of traditional Chinese medicine, especially peptide components, the common substances in animal medicine, which have good anti-tumor, anti-thrombosis, and hypoglycemic effects; enhance the immunity in the elderly; and have anti-neurosenescence, anti-skin aging, cardiovascular protection, anti-fatigue, anti-osteoporosis and arthritis and other pharmacological effects, which can alleviate or even treat aging-related diseases in a targeted manner. The potential of animal-derived polypeptides in this regard needs to be further explored. Therefore, this review focuses on the pharmacological activity of animal-derived polypeptides against aging-related diseases, thereby providing ideas for pharmacological research and product development of animal drugs.