Journal
BIOGERONTOLOGY
Volume 13, Issue 2, Pages 157-167Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s10522-011-9365-0
Keywords
Sarcopenia; Skeletal muscle; Cell death; Atrophy
Categories
Funding
- Otago School of Medical Sciences
- Department of Physiology at the University of Otago
- University of Otago
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Sarcopenia is the age-related loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength, attributable in part to muscle fibre loss. We are currently unable to prevent fibre loss because we do not know what causes it. To provide a platform from which to better understand the causes of muscle fibre death we have quantified fibre loss in several muscles of aged C57Bl/6J mice. Comparison of muscle fibre numbers on dystrophin-immunostained transverse tissue sections at 6 months of age with those at 24 months shows a significant fibre loss in extensor digitorum longus and soleus, but not in sternomastoid or cleidomastoid muscles. The muscles of the elderly mice were mostly lighter than their younger counterparts, but fibres in the elderly muscles were of about the same cross-sectional area. This study shows that the contribution of fibre death to sarcopenia is highly variable and that there is no consistent pattern of age-related fibre loss between skeletal muscles.
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