Abstract
Aging is an inevitable and gradually progressive process affecting all organs and systems. The musculoskeletal system makes no exception, elderly exhibit an increased risk of sarcopenia (low muscle mass),dynapenia (declining muscle strength), and subsequent disability. Whereas in recent years the subject of skeletal muscle metabolic decline in the elderly has been gathering interest amongst researchers, as well as medical professionals, there are many challenges yet to be solved in order to counteract the effects of aging on muscle function efficiently. Noteworthy, it has been shown that aging individuals exhibit a decline in skeletal muscle metabolism, a phenomenon which may be linked to a number of predisposing (risk) factors such as telomere attrition, epigenetic changes, mitochondrial dysfunction, sedentary behavior (leading to body composition alterations), age-related low-grade systemic inflammation (inflammaging), hormonal imbalance, as well as a hypoproteic diet (unable to counterbalance the repercussions of the age-related increase in skeletal muscle catabolism). The present review aims to discuss the relationship between old age and muscle wasting in an effort to highlight the modifications in skeletal muscle metabolism associated with aging and physical activity.
Highlights
Aging is an inevitable process affecting all organs and systems [1]
The present review aims to discuss the relationship between old age and muscle wasting in an effort to highlight the changes in skeletal muscle metabolism associated with aging and physical activity
The aging process is accompanied by variations in hormonal release, elderly persons exhibiting lower levels of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), estrogens, testosterone, growth hormone (GH), as well a dysfunctional hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis which may all lead to decreased lean mass and disruptions in muscle strength and metabolism [111,112,113]
Summary
Aging is an inevitable process affecting all organs and systems [1]. The musculoskeletal system makes no exception, the elderly exhibit an increased risk of degenerative joint disease, muscle loss (sarcopenia), declining muscle strength (dynapenia), and subsequent disability [2]. Global estimates anticipate that by 2050 a large proportion of the general population will be over 60 years of age, which makes the issue of improving the management of aging-associated disorders of paramount importance [4,6]. The subject of age-related muscle impairment has been brought into focus by the growing number of elderly individuals requiring medical assistance [4,5,6] and the important functional hindrance linked to musculoskeletal system alterations in old age [8,9,10,11,12]. It has been shown that aging triggers important changes at the level of skeletal muscle metabolism; enticing the appearance of clinically relevant disruptions in the global metabolic homeostasis [15,16]. The present review aims to discuss the relationship between old age and muscle wasting in an effort to highlight the changes in skeletal muscle metabolism associated with aging and physical activity
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