A Role for Raised Ceramide Levels in Sarcopenia

Researchers here provide evidence for raised levels of ceramide in muscle tissue to be an important part of the metabolic dysfunction of aging. It reduces muscle stem cell activity, contributing to the age-related loss of muscle mass and strength that leads to sarcopenia and frailty. Whether working on this point of intervention, to produce improved ceramide blockers with fewer side-effects, is better or worse than other avenues is an open question. Altered metabolism is thought to be a fair way downstream from the root causes of aging, and tackling root causes should always be a better option. It is is very challenging to track backwards along the chain of cause and effect from an observation such as raised ceremide levels, however. Thus most research and development groups prefer to stop at this point and build a more limited intervention based on what is known now. Researchers have discovered that when mice age, their muscles become packed with ceramides. Ceramides are sphingolipids, a class of fat molecules that are not used to produce energy but rather perform different tasks in the cell. The researchers found that, in aging, there is an overload of the protein SPT and others, all of which are needed to convert fatty acids and amino acids to ceramides. Next, the scientists wanted to see whether reducing ceramide overload could prevent age-related decline in muscle function. They treated old mice with ceramide blockers, such as myriocin and the synthetic ...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs