Age, obesity, and diabetes mellitus are pathophysiologically interconnected factors that significantly contribute to the global burden of non-communicable diseases. These metabolic conditions are associated with impaired insulin function, which disrupts the metabolism of carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins and can lead to structural and functional changes in skeletal muscle. Therefore, the alterations in the macromolecular composition of skeletal muscle may provide an indication of the underlying mechanisms of insulin-related disorders. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy to reveal the changes in macromolecular composition in weight-bearing and non-weight-bearing muscles of old, obese, insulin-resistant, and young streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mice. The efficiency of FTIR spectroscopy was evaluated by comparison with the results of gold-standard histochemical techniques. The differences in biomolecular phenotypes and the alterations in muscle composition in relation to their functional properties observed from FTIR spectra suggest that FTIR spectroscopy can detect most of the changes observed in muscle tissue by histochemical analyses and more. Therefore, it could be used as an effective alternative because it allows for the complete characterization of macromolecular composition in a single, relatively simple experiment, avoiding some obvious drawbacks of histochemical methods.
Keywords: Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy; diabetes; histochemical analysis; insulin resistance; obesity; skeletal muscle macromolecular composition.