Scientists have reversed muscle aging
Physiologists from Columbia University have found that during physical training, human bones produce the hormone osteocalcin, which increases muscle performance. The production of osteocalcin in the body decreases with age, starting from 30 years in women and from 50 years in men. Article by Mera et al. Osteocalcin Signaling in Myofibers Is Necessary and Sufficient for Optimum Adaptation to Exercise published in the journal Cell Metabolism.
During physical exercise in humans and animals, the level of osteocalcin in the blood increases, but age plays an important role. In three-month-old mice, the amount of the hormone was four times higher than in 12-month-old rodents when the animals were subjected to muscle loads for 40 minutes on a treadmill. Young mice were able to run about 1200 meters, while older animals were exhausted, having mastered only half of this distance.
To test that osteocalcin is a key component of muscle endurance, the researchers conducted experiments on genetically modified mice whose bodies did not produce the right amount of the hormone. Such animals were able to run only 20-30 percent of the distance that young rodents overcame. Injections of osteocalcin, on the other hand, restored muscle performance at the level of three-month-old animals to elderly mice whose age reached 12-15 months.
The researchers also showed that in humans, the level of osteocalcin in the blood also decreases with age, and in the body of women, changes in the amount of the hormone begin to occur earlier than in men.
In order to determine the cellular mechanisms underlying the functions of osteocalcin, scientists measured the levels of glycogen, glucose and acylcarnitines – the latter serve as an indicator of metabolic disorders of organic and fatty acids – in mice with a sufficient amount of the hormone and with its deficiency. It turned out that the main function of osteocalcin is to help muscle tissues absorb glucose and fatty acids during exercise.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru
15.06.2016