Neuroendocrinology and aging.

This short review goes back to early discoveries concerning the neuroendocrinology of aging, discussing the Brown-Sequard experiment on rejuvenation at the end of the 19th century and Steinach's subsequent experiments in the early 20th century. It also considers the seminal experiments of Pierre Ascheim, Ming Tsung Peng and Joseph Meites in the 1960s on the aging of the gonadotrophic axis. Major age-associated changes in neuroendocrine regulatory processes involved in the menopausal transition, andropause, somatopause and adrenopause are also reviewed. Finally, some views on future directions of research into the neuroendocrinology of aging are proposed, based on the pleiotropy of neuroendocrine messengers and functions.