As human life expectancy keeps increasing, ageing populations present a growing challenge for clinical practices. Human ageing is associated with molecular, structural, and functional changes in a variety of organ systems, including the kidney. During the ageing process, the kidney experiences progressive functional decline as well as macroscopic and microscopic histological alterations, which are accentuated by systemic comorbidities like hypertension and diabetes mellitus, or by preexisting or underlying kidney diseases. Although ageing per se does not cause kidney injury, physiologic changes associated with normal ageing processes are likely to impair the reparative capacity of the kidney and thus predispose older people to acute kidney disease, chronic kidney disease and other renal diseases. Mechanistically, cell senescence plays a key role in renal ageing, involving a number of cellular signaling mechanisms, many of which may be harnessed as international targets for slowing or even reversing kidney ageing. This review summarizes the clinical characteristics of renal ageing, highlights the latest progresses in deciphering the role of cell senescence in renal ageing, and envisages potential interventional strategies and novel therapeutic targets for preventing or improving renal ageing in the hope of maintaining long-term kidney health and function across the life course.

随着人类预期寿命的不断增加，人口老龄化对临床实践提出了越来越大的挑战。人体衰老与包括肾脏在内的多种器官系统的分子，结构和功能变化有关。在衰老过程中，肾脏会经历渐进的功能衰退以及宏观和微观的组织学改变，这是由于全身性合并症（如高血压和糖尿病）或先前存在或潜在的肾脏疾病而加剧的。虽然本身老化不会造成肾脏损伤，与正常衰老过程相关的生理变化可能会损害肾脏的修复能力，从而使老年人容易患急性肾病，慢性肾脏病和其他肾脏疾病。从机理上讲，细胞衰老在肾脏衰老中起关键作用，涉及许多细胞信号传导机制，其中许多机制可被用作延缓甚至逆转肾脏衰老的国际目标。这篇综述总结了肾脏衰老的临床特征，突出了在解释细胞衰老在肾脏衰老中的作用的最新进展，并提出了预防或改善肾脏衰老的潜在干预策略和新的治疗靶点，以期希望长期保持肾脏健康在整个生命过程中发挥作用