Key points from article :
For those aged 65 years and older, muscle decline can become much more rapid, with an average loss of 1% muscle mass each year.
Researchers found an animal model that will help them better understand it and find ways to curtail the symptoms.
Dunkin Hartley guinea pig was a good candidate for a muscle aging model.
Team hypothesized that those muscle changes might mimic human musculoskeletal aging.
Muscle composition changes with age: fast-twitch fibers, decrease in number, and slow-twitch fibers, tend to increase.
"age-related loss of muscle mass and age-related loss of muscle function don’t always go hand in hand,” Hamilton
Muscle strength and gait or mobility change with age in the Hartley guinea pigs, and these changes mimic the deterioration of muscle function in aging humans.
Treating the guinea pigs with plant-based phytochemicals that target a protective suite of genes.
Research by Colorado State University published in Frontiers in Physiology.
