StemCell Therapy

Editor's Choice Main Category: Stem Cell Research Also Included In: Seniors / Aging Article Date: 27 Sep 2012 - 12:00 PDT

Current ratings for: Scientists Discover How To Halt Aging Muscles

4.27 (11 votes)

This groundbreaking study, published in Nature, explains why muscle mass decreases with age, an important factor in weakness, causing lack of mobility and falls in elders.

Previous research has told us that stem cells can play a crucial role in stimulating muscle regeneration. This particular study looked at stem cells found in muscles that are responsible for repairing injuries and why the muscles' capacity of regeneration deteriorates with age.

An inactive supply of stem cells is present inside every muscle, ready to be put into action by exercise or injury to fix any damage. When these stem cells are needed, they can divide into hundreds of new muscle threads and repair the injured muscle. At the end of the repairing process, a few of these cells refill the supply of dormant stem cells, enabling the muscle to carry on repairing itself continuously.

Researchers used elderly mice to conduct this study and found the number of inactive stem cells in the extra pool decreases with age, explaining the decline in the muscle's ability to regenerate and repair as the body gets older. When these muscles were examined, the scientists found high levels of FGF2, a protein that has the capacity to trigger the division of cells. While stimulating inactive cells to split and repair muscle is a normal and vital process, they found FGF2 could awaken the dormant stem cells even when they were not needed. Continuous activation of the dormant stem cells meant depletion of the surplus, leaving the muscles without necessary stem cells when repair was really needed.

After this finding, the team attempted to obstruct FGF2 in old muscles in order to prevent the stem cell surplus from being activated unnecessarily. By giving the mice a common FGF2 inhibitor drug, they were able to slow down the decline in the number of muscle stem cells.

Dr Albert Basson, Senior Lecturer from the Department of Craniofacial Development and Stem Cell Biology at the King's College London Dental Institute, said:

Written by Kelly Fitzgerald Copyright: Medical News Today Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

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Scientists Discover How To Halt Aging Muscles

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