Can muscle aging be reversed through exercise?

Lipids play various roles in the body. They form part of cell membranes, store and transport energy, help the body absorb fats and vitamins, and are used to produce hormones.

However, the presence of certain lipids in large amounts can increase the risk of disease. For example, if the blood concentration is high, triglycerides and LDL cholesterol (both lipids) increase the risk of: heart attack And a stroke.

Similarly, BMP associated with many diseasesinclude metabolic diseasecancer, liver, kidney disease, as well as neurodegenerative diseases associated with aging. BMP too appear more often Contained in platelets of people infected with the new coronavirus infection.

To examine how BMP levels change with age, the authors of the new study examined 10 different tissues in mice, including muscle, kidney, liver, and heart. Older mice had more BMPs present in these tissues.

The researchers also looked at muscle biopsies previously collected from people, including young and older men and women. Similar to mice, BMP levels were higher in older adults.

To see if exercise can change these levels in people, researchers recruited 26 middle-aged and older women and had them participate in three different exercise programs of four days each. I did.

• sitting 14 hours a day
• 1 hour of exercise and 13 hours of sitting per day
• I sit for 9 hours, stand for 3 hours, and walk for 2 hours a day.

Muscle biopsies taken from women showed lower BMP levels after an exercise program compared to a sedentary program. Levels also decreased after the stand/walk program, but not as much as after 4 days of exercise.

Dr. Douglas VaughanMetabolism changes with age, and BMPs are molecular markers of those changes, said director of the Potokusnak Longevity Institute at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

Vaughn was not involved in the study.

Although he said he could not say whether BMPs are better biomarkers of aging than other categories of molecules, the study found that the results were “consistent across species and probably more relevant.” He said that it was shown that.

Furthermore, “the fact that they demonstrated that an exercise intervention program reduced levels in females suggests that this is one of the things we can consider when thinking about slowing or reversing aging in our species.” That suggests it's possible,” he told Healthline. .

Although the new research is still in its early stages, reliable biomarkers will be needed to test drugs and other methods that slow aging, Vaughan said. This includes many different types of molecules that change throughout the tissue.

“You might choose something like [BMPs] These are some of the signs to look for when determining whether your intervention has had a positive or negative effect. [on aging],” He said.

Although it may be some time before scientists fully understand how exercise supports healthy aging, research suggests that people who are more active tend to be healthier and live longer. This has already been shown in population-based studies, Vaughn emphasized.

Still, it's useful to dig deeper.

“Understanding these different aspects is definitely valuable in terms of thinking about how to develop other interventions that can mimic exercise and its effects on aging,” Vaughan says.

When the researchers looked at several mouse tissues and human muscle tissue, they found that a particular type of lipid called BMP was more abundant in older mice and humans.

BMPs are thought to be associated with many diseases, including metabolic diseases, cancer, liver and kidney diseases, and age-related neurodegenerative diseases.

Researchers also found that a four-day exercise program reduced BMP levels in the muscles of older women, suggesting a possible way to slow the effects of aging.