Sarcopenia: Molecular regulatory network for loss of muscle mass and function

Jiaxiang Wu; Ping'an Ding; Haotian Wu; Peigang Yang; Honghai Guo; Yuan Tian; Lingjiao Meng; Qun Zhao

doi:10.3389/fnut.2023.1037200

Sarcopenia: Molecular regulatory network for loss of muscle mass and function

Front Nutr. 2023 Feb 2:10:1037200. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2023.1037200. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Jiaxiang Wu^{1

2}, Ping'an Ding^{1

2}, Haotian Wu^{1

2}, Peigang Yang^{1

2}, Honghai Guo^{1

2}, Yuan Tian^{1

2}, Lingjiao Meng^{2

3}, Qun Zhao^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ The Third Department of Surgery, The Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China.
² Hebei Key Laboratory of Precision Diagnosis and Comprehensive Treatment of Gastric Cancer, Shijiazhuang, China.
³ Research Center of the Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China.

Abstract

Skeletal muscle is the foundation of human function and plays a key role in producing exercise, bone protection, and energy metabolism. Sarcopenia is a systemic disease, which is characterized by degenerative changes in skeletal muscle mass, strength, and function. Therefore, sarcopenia often causes weakness, prolonged hospitalization, falls and other adverse consequences that reduce the quality of life, and even lead to death. In recent years, sarcopenia has become the focus of in-depth research. Researchers have suggested some molecular mechanisms for sarcopenia according to different muscle physiology. These mechanisms cover neuromuscular junction lesion, imbalance of protein synthesis and breakdown, satellite cells dysfunction, etc. We summarize the latest research progress on the molecular mechanism of sarcopenia in this review in order to provide new ideas for future researchers to find valuable therapeutic targets and develop relevant prevention strategies.

Keywords: imbalance of protein synthesis and breakdown; molecular mechanism; neuromuscular junction lesion; sarcopenia; satellite cells dysfunction.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Cultivating Outstanding Talents Project of Hebei Provincial Government Fund (No. 2019012), Hebei Public Health Committee County-Level Public Hospitals Suitable Health Technology Promotion and Storage Project (No. 2019024), and Hebei University Science and Technology Research Project (No. ZD2019139).