To investigate effect of aging on bioactive factors related to gastric mucosal defense-repair mechanisms.

Thirty-Six gastric surgery patients were enrolled, inclusion criteria included of benign gastric stromal tumors, benign pyloric obstruction and early gastric cancer. 14 subjects aged 20-59 belonged to the younger group, and 22 subjects aged 60 years or more to the elderly group. In the elderly group, 8 patients were aged from 60 to 69, 6 ones from 70 to 79 and 8 ones from 80 to 89 years. Fresh mucosal samples were taken from the greater curvature of the gastric antrum (distance lesions≥5 cm). After histopathological examination, specimens that were normal or had superficial inflammation were included in the study. The content of MDA in gastric antral mucosa was determined by TBA method, and that of EGF, Caspase-3, Caspase-9, PGE₂, CGRP by ELISA. Kruskal-Wallis H test was used to compare the differences between the groups. The Wilcoxon rank sum test was used to compare the results between two groups.

Compared with the younger group, the gastric mucosal content of MDA(z=-1.785,P>0.05), EGF(z=-0.681,P>0.05), Caspase-3 (z=-0.049,P>0.05) had no difference in the elderly group,while the gastric mucosal content of Caspase-9 (z=-1.493,P=0.01), PGE₂(z=-1.038,P<0.05) , CGRP(z=-1.103,P<0.01) significantly reduced in the elderly group. The gastric mucosal content of MDA(H=5.004,P>0.05) and Caspase-3 (H=0.686,P>0.05) were no difference with aging. The gastric mucosal content of EGF(H=6.521,P<0.05), Caspase-9 (H=4.306, P<0.05), PGE₂(H=8.531,P=0.01), CGRP(H=10.710, P<0.05) were significantly reduced with aging.

With aging, gastric mucosal defense-repair mechanisms were deteriorated as a result of multi-factorial interactions with several interlinks.