WIKIMEDIA, DEPARTMENT OF HISTOLOGY, JAGIELLONIAN UNIVERSITY MEDICAL COLLEGEA protein implicated in rejuvenating the muscles of older mice now appears to do just the opposite. Researchers reported in Cell Metabolism today (May 19) that, contrary to the results of a 2014 study, GDF11 levels increase with age and inhibit muscle regeneration.
“Both studies are valid. I don’t think one paper is obliterating the other,” said Fabio Demontis, who studies skeletal muscle aging at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and was not involved in either study. “The new study indicates that GDF11 is not promoting regeneration in all cases. Differences in experimental settings may explain the differences in the results between the studies.”
David Glass, the executive director of the Musculoskeletal Disease team at Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research who led the new study, said he couldn’t speculate as to the cause of the discrepancy. “I can just say that our data is very consistent with a whole plethora of data on [a similar molecule] myostatin and prior findings on GDF11.”
Some have called GDF11 a “fountain ...
