Indirect Evidence for Misfolded Proteins that Accumulate in Muscle to Contribute to the Progression of Sarcopenia

One of the differences between old tissue and young tissue is an accumulation of misfolded proteins, normally soluable, into solid aggregates. The best known of these are the varieties of amyloid that are clearly associated with specific diseases and are present in significant amounts in patient tissues. These are far from the only proteins that accumulate in such a way, however, and there are many more types of misfolded or damaged proteins that do not form aggregates. Unfortunately the mapping of aggregates by tissue to specific consequences in the course of degenerative aging is far from complete. In the paper I'll point out today, the authors take an interesting path in their attempts to prove relevance of various aggregates to age-related loss of muscle mass and strength, the condition known as sarcopenia. I think that the approach is indirect enough to taken as a first filter that leads next to further study to evaluate how well it did, rather than being, on its own, any sort of confirming evidence for the participation of specific aggregates in the progression of sarcopenia. Even that is well before we get into questions of causation versus correlation. The challenge inherent in all investigations of aging is that it is a global phenomenon in the body; there are many correlations to be found between processes that in fact have little to do with one another, and spring from entirely separate sources. Still, the road to knowledge must start somewhere. Loss of musc...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs