Obesity, diabetes and sarcopenia

Along with metabolic dysfunction and related complications, an often overlooked concomitant pathology of obesity is skeletal muscle atrophy (sarcopenia), which causes muscle asthenia and is associated with a decrease in quality of life. Both obesity and sarcopenia are often associated with aging.

A clinical study, as well as experiments on mouse models conducted by Dr. Adam Rose from the Monash Institute of Biomedicine, showed that in type 2 diabetes mellitus and muscular atrophy, the catabolism of the amino acid alanine in the liver increases. This is due to an increase in the level of hormones cortisol and glucagon, which increase the circulation of amino acids between the liver and skeletal muscles, causing the latter to become smaller and weaker.

The authors found that the expression of the enzyme alanine aminotransferase is elevated in the liver in mice with obesity and diabetes, as well as in people with type 2 diabetes. Selective shutdown of alanine aminotransferase in the liver of mice with obesity and diabetes normalizes blood sugar levels and inhibits skeletal muscle atrophy by restoring protein synthesis in them.

The conducted studies confirm the hypothesis of the glucose-alanine cycle as a fundamental metabolic mechanism in normal and in diseases.

Article by J.G.Okun et al. Liver alanine catabolism promotes skeletal muscle atrophy and hyperglycaemia in type 2 diabetes is published in the journal Nature Metabolism.

Aminat Adzhieva, portal "Eternal Youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on EurekAlert: Researchers identify a way to reverse high blood sugar and muscle loss.