Study Explains Why Muscles Weaken with Age and Points to Possible Therapy

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/news/study-explains-why-muscles-weaken-age-and-points-possible-therapy

Study Explains Why Muscles Weaken with Age and Points to Possible Therapy

August 2, 2011

(NEW YORK, NY) – Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have discovered the biological mechanism behind age-related loss of muscle strength and identified a drug that may help reverse this process. Their findings were published in the August 2 online edition of Cell Metabolism.

…

“This is a completely new concept — that the damage that occurs in aging is very similar to what happens in muscular dystrophy,” says Dr. Marks, “thus as we age we essentially develop an acquired form of muscular dystrophy.”

Both the aging process and the genetic defect responsible for muscular dystrophy cause an increase in the production of oxygen free radicals, highly reactive and harmful molecules. “Our data suggest that this sets up a vicious cycle, in which the free radicals cause ryanodine receptors to leak calcium into the cell. The calcium poisons mitochondria — organelles that power the cell — leading to the release of even more free radicals. This, in turn, causes more calcium leakage. With less calcium available for contraction, the muscles get weaker,” says first author Daniel C. Andersson, M.D., Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in physiology and cellular biophysics at CUMC.

…

“Most investigators in the field of aging have been saying that the way to improve muscle strength is to build muscle mass, using such therapies as testosterone, growth hormone, and insulin-like growth factor-1,” says Dr. Marks. “But an increase in muscle mass is not necessarily accompanied by an increase in muscle function. Our results suggest that you can improve muscle function by fixing leaky calcium channels. And in fact, treating aged mice with S107 enhanced muscle strength without increasing muscle size, at least during the four-week treatment period.”

…

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2011.05.014

[meegbear]

1. Interesting ... thanks!

:hi:

[OKIsItJustMe]

3. You’re welcome

(I thought it was interesting.)

[On the Road]

2. So Does This Imply That Anitoxidants are Therapeutic?

a lot of claims have been made, but I understood the body produces its own and that the jury was still out on the value of supplements.

[wtmusic]

Apparently the aging process increases the amount of free radicals

which would also explain why older people are more susceptible to cancer.

Eat your blueberries!

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. I had the same question

However, I don’t believe this research explored that.

[provis99]

5. oh great.

Now 90 year old guys will be able to beat the crap out of me if I go on their lawn.

[On the Road]

6. I'm Telling You,

I am going to get so strong I'll beat up all those teenage punks on my street.

LOL

[AndyTiedye]

9. Could Be

I know I'm stronger now than I was when I was a teenager, and that was a long time ago.

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. turns out one of the Dr.s heading the study ALSO invented the drug he is marketing.

Here is the connection:

Dr Andrew Marks and colleagues at Columbia University and Appalachian State University in the US, and Montpellier University in France, carried out the research.
The study was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the American Heart Association.
Some of the authors of the paper are consultants to ARMGO Pharma Inc., a company developing drugs that target the ryanodine receptor to treat heart failure and improve exercise capacity.

http://www.nhs.uk/news/2007/Pages/Soremusclesofmiceandmen.aspx

Misleading, in that ONE of the "authors of the paper" is the CEO of ARMGO Pharma!

THIS spells it out more clearly:
The study also pointed to a possible exciting new therapy for sarcopenia:
a drug called S107, developed by Dr. Andrew R. Marks,
head of the Wu Center for Molecular Cardiology at Columbia University Medical Center, and his colleagues.
Marks is a founder of ARMGO Pharmaceuticals and stands to handsomely benefit should S107 become approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
http://gantdaily.com/2011/08/02/study-explains-why-muscles-weaken-with-age/

another case of questionable ethical research by "doctors of a University related Medical Center."
who also have a profit motive for the results of their study.

[golfguru]

8. There is only one cure guaranteed to work

to cure old age problems, every time, without fail.
It is called death!

This is why children are born.....to replace the old.
But I am sure the drug company will sucker in lot of dreamers.

[Odin2005]

10. Sez you, I plan on living forever.

:)

[DavidDvorkin]

11. Yes!