Thursday, December 3, 2009

The muscles must "eliminate waste" to stay strong and healthy

A research team funded by the EU found that the muscles were regularly eliminate waste they produce themselves to stay strong and healthy. The results of the study, published in the December issue of the journal Cell Metabolism, could lead to new treatments for diseases and conditions involving muscular atrophy. During the process of detoxification of muscles known as "autophagy" waste such as organelles depleted group of toxic proteins and pathogens are eliminated by muscle cells. This research is part of two projects funded by the EU MYOAGE ( "Understanding and Combating human age-related muscle weakness"), funded under the Health Theme of the Seventh Framework Program (FP7) 11.2 million euros, and EXGENESIS ( "Health benefits of exercise: identification of genes and signaling pathways involved in effects of exercise on insulin resistance, obesity and the metabolic syndrome"), funded under the thematic area "Life Sciences life, genomics and biotechnology for health "of the Sixth Framework Program (FP6) to 12.7 million euros.

The research team, led by Dr. Marco Sandri University of Padua in Italy, has conducted tests on mice lacking a gene required to conduct the process of autophagy. The mice showed signs of muscle weakness and atrophy that increased with age. "If the system can not eliminate what is damaged and the problem persists, the muscle fibers do not react very well," said Dr. Sandri. Among the possible damage to muscle cells include an accumulation of degraded proteins and free radicals, and deterioration of internal cellular structures. Eventually, some muscle cells die and 'muscles weaken with age, "explains Dr. Sandri. The research team noted that the process of muscle atrophy in mice strongly resembles some muscle atrophy observed in men. The results of this study could provide clues about the reason for the decrease in muscle mass in men, including the weakening due to age, a process called sarcopenia. The process of autophagy is essential for healthy muscles, but an excessive autophagy can also lead to muscle diseases and a decrease in muscle mass. The study shows the importance for the muscles to maintain a normal level of autophagy. This discovery was a surprise to the research team. "We thought that the reduction of autophagy could contribute to protection against muscle atrophy," said Dr. Sandri. "But it seems that it is not so. We found that, logically, if nothing is done to remove the causes of damage to muscles, the muscles weaken. "

According to Dr. Sandri, these findings could have important clinical implications given the increasing interest that is given to developing treatments to block the degradation of proteins to treat certain muscle atrophy. But in some cases, "it would probably be better to activate the autophagy process and eliminate waste that invade cells," adds Dr. Sandri. The research team believes that similar treatment could help slow the process of sarcopenia among the elderly. The researchers also noted that another study had shown a similar decline in the effectiveness of autophagy during the aging process.

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