A new discovery may preserve muscle strength and slow its decline with age

 

A Japanese study has shown that an antioxidant molecule may help maintain the ability of muscles to repair themselves with age.

This is achieved by protecting a key protein responsible for activating the process of muscle tissue regeneration, which may pave the way for the development of new treatments to reduce muscle atrophy.

The study was conducted by a research team led by Professor Ryuichi Tatsumi from the Faculty of Agriculture at Kyushu University in Japan, and its results were published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Skeletal muscles are among the body tissues most affected by aging, as a decline in their ability to regenerate leads to muscle weakness, fat accumulation within them, and loss of the fibers responsible for fast and powerful movements.

The researchers focused on a protein known as hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), which plays a crucial role in activating stem cells within muscles responsible for repairing damaged tissue. However, with age, this protein undergoes a chemical change called nitrification, which weakens its ability to function and limits muscle regeneration.

To find a way to protect this protein, the team tested two antioxidant compounds, GSSSG and LASSS. The results showed that LASSS was the most effective, as it not only reduced nitrification but also enhanced the protein's ability to bind to the receptor responsible for activating muscle repair, while the other compound did not achieve the same effect.

Tatsumi said the results exceeded the researchers' expectations, noting that LASSS may not only protect the protein from damage, but may also improve its performance, which led the team to describe the resulting new form as "super hepatocyte growth factor" (Super HGF).

To verify the results, the researchers tested the compound on mice suffering from muscle atrophy, and the experiments showed a clear reduction in harmful chemical changes within the muscles of the animals that received LASSS, suggesting that its effect may extend to living tissues.

The researchers stressed that these results are still preliminary and require further studies before being applied to humans, but they may open the way for developing new ways to maintain muscle health in the elderly or people who lose muscle mass due to lack of movement or staying in bed for long periods.