This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Services Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire PubMed PubMed Citation

Review Article: Mechanisms and Strategies to Counter Muscle Atrophy

¹ Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, School of Dental Medicine
² Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.

Skeletal muscle size is modulated by a number of factors, including muscle load, utilization, and regenerative capacity. Surprisingly, actions that can promote muscle growth do not necessarily prevent the loss of muscle mass, or atrophy. This suggests that divergent mechanisms are important for the maintenance of muscle mass in different contexts. In acute atrophy, muscles rapidly lose mass when load is lacking, and this response seems to involve active elimination of myonuclei. In contrast, chronic atrophy, such as loss of muscle mass related to aging, is associated with impairments in muscle repair. In this review, two contexts in which muscle mass is lost are explored to determine if similar processes are involved.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. M. Ramsey, M. M. Adams, O. J. Ariwodola, W. E. Sonntag, and J. L. Weiner Functional Characterization of Des-IGF-1 Action at Excitatory Synapses in the CA1 Region of Rat Hippocampus J Neurophysiol, July 1, 2005; 94(1): 247 - 254. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. Chen and C. S. von Bartheld Role of Exogenous and Endogenous Trophic Factors in the Regulation of Extraocular Muscle Strength during Development Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci., October 1, 2004; 45(10): 3538 - 3545. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. M. Bamman, R. C. Ragan, J.-s. Kim, J. M. Cross, V. J. Hill, S. C. Tuggle, and R. M. Allman Myogenic protein expression before and after resistance loading in 26- and 64-yr-old men and women J Appl Physiol, October 1, 2004; 97(4): 1329 - 1337. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]