Reviewing the Mechanisms of Muscle Atrophy
Updated: 2012-12-31 16:22:08
Muscle mass and strength diminish with age, and researchers are making steady progress into understanding exactly why this is the case. Rejuvenation biotechnologies of the sort proposed in the SENS plan should reverse this decline, but most researchers are looking more narrowly at intervening in secondary mechanisms - patching the problem rather than attacking aging at its roots. Skeletal muscle is a plastic organ that is maintained by multiple pathways regulating cell and protein turnover. During muscle atrophy, proteolytic systems are activated, and contractile proteins and organelles are removed, resulting in the shrinkage of muscle fibers. Excessive loss of muscle...