The significance of activation of muscle mitochondrial function in sarcopenic obesity

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25460897
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: General internal medicine(including psychosomatic medicine)
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: Sugimoto Ken 大阪大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 講師 (20437403)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): RAKUGI HIROMI 大阪大学, 大学院医学系研究科 老年・総合内科学, 教授 (20252679)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: モデル動物 / サルコペニア / 肥満 / ミトコンドリア機能 / 骨格筋エコー

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In the basic study using Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats (SHR) and Wistar Kyoto Rats (WKY), SHR aged 60 weeks showed the phenotype commensurate with sarcopenia rather than that with sarcopenic obesity and were not influenced by high fat & carbohydrate diet, however WKY aged 60 weeks showed the phenotype commensurate with sarcopenic obesity after 4 months’ high fat & carbohydrate diet. The administration of L-carnitine resulted in the increase of muscle strength without changes of appendicular muscle mass especially in SHR, and this effect might be associated with activation of mitochondrial functions in muscles contained mostly slow-twitch fibers. It is confirmed in this study that skeletal muscle ultrasonography is very useful as a simple method for detecting reduced lower leg muscle strength in clinical, and our findings revealed that the assessments of muscle thickness and brightness in tibialis anterior (TA) muscle might be useful for detecting sarcopenia.

Free Research Field

老年医学