Ginkgo biloba extract ameliorates aging-related sarcopenia

Abstract

Background & Aim Sarcopenia, a geriatric syndrome named by Irwin Rosenberg in 1989, characterized by loss of muscle mass and muscle strength as well as by declination of muscle repair and regeneration. Sarcopenia not only contributes to the progressive loss of physical autonomy and but also causes metabolic abnormalities that collectively lead to frailty and mortality in the aging. There is an urgent unmet medical need for appropriate therapeutic strategies of sarcopenia. Ginkgo biloba extract (GBE), a phytochemical product from ginkgo biloba leaf, exerted the therapeutic efficacy on many aging-related diseases, regarding Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and cerecardiovascular system diseases. However, whether GBE improves sarcopenia remains to be determined. Methods, Results & Conclusion GBE and Ginkgolide B, one unique component from GBE, were orally gavaged into ovariectomized (OVX) mice or 20 month-old female mice, and then the muscle mass and strength were measured after for treating two months. The role of Ginkgolide B was further tested in C2C12-derived myotubes. The effect of ginkgolide B on the expression of myogenic profile, differentiation index and fusion index of C2C12-derived myotubes were determined following by qPCR and myosin heavy chain staining. Our results showed that GBE was able to increase lean-to-body mass in OVX mice. We further demonstrated that ginkgolide B could improve sarcopenia in both OVX and aged mice, which is evidenced by the increased muscle mass and motor performances after treatment. Ginkgolide B promoted myogentic differentiation by improving bone-muscle crosstalk, and it also protected myotubes from glucocorticoid-induced muscle atrophy by regulating myostatin-to-ubiquitin proteasome system. In addition, ginkgolide B is able to enrich microvasculature in aged skeletal muscle that underpins appropriate muscular perfusion from local niche and circulation, hence restoring the loss of skeletal muscle mass and function during aging. Furthermore, we found that ginkgolide B reversed the expression of circulating pro-inflammatory cytokines in aged mice that may contribute to the improvement of sarcopenia. Collectively, our results demonstrated that ginkgolide B is sufficient to improve the debilitating sarcopenia and enlightens an affirmative prospect on treating sarcopenia.