Infographic: How Muscles Age

Numerous cellular changes underlie the decline of muscle mass and strength in the elderly.

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Sarcopenia, the loss of muscle mass with age, can start as early as one’s 30s, and affects a large proportion of the elderly. Fortunately, exercise can combat muscle aging, likely by reversing many of the age-related physiological changes at the root of this decline.

Muscle stem cells: Muscle stem cells, or satellite cells, decrease in number as we age. In elderly-human cells DNA methylation suppresses the expression of some genes, including sprouty 1, an important regulator of satellite cell self-renewal.

Mitochondria: Muscles develop abnormalities in mitochondrial morphology, number, and function with age.

Autophagy: Old muscles undergo lower levels of autophagy. Combined with lower protein production, this can result in an imbalance of proteins linked to muscle aging.

Blood-borne factors: Signaling factors known as myokines can be released into the blood directly or through excreted vesicles, and travel through the circulatory system to ...

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  • Gillian Butler-Browne

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  • Vincent Mouly

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Published In

September 2018

The Muscle Issue

The dynamic tissue reveals its secrets

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