Italian researchers have discovered that a specific protein could be the culprit in muscle wasting.
Muscle wasting or atrophy is a loss of muscular tissue that occurs when we are confined to bed because of health problems, injuries, or surgery, or when we grow old and become less active. Atrophy can also be the result of certain diseases, including Lou Gehrig’s disease, muscular dystrophy, Guillain-Barre syndrome, and other diseases or defects affecting the muscles. In some people (where muscle disuse is a problem), exercise is the “cure.” But what if you’re unable to exercise due to disease or disability?
That’s where this new study comes in, delving into the actual physical source of muscle wasting. The study, which appeared in the latest issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, used mice to figure out the role of a protein, “NF-Kappa-B,” in muscle wasting. First, the research team produced mice that did not have the aforementioned protein “turned on” inside of their bodies. How? They genetically engineered the rodents so that they did not have the molecule that activates NF-Kappa-B (i.e. “IKK2″).
So, the genetically engineered mice and a group of regular mice (the control group) were given an injury to produce loss of control in the muscles of their lower legs. Normally this leads to muscle wasting, because the limbs are no longer in use. After one month, the injured legs in the mice with the NF-Kappa-B switched off were twice as strong as those of the control group mice. That’s a 50% difference!
In a separate test, the researchers took a group of the genetically engineered rodents and a group of control mice (neither with the aforementioned induced injury) to see how they would respond to a different type of muscle injury. The mice were all injected with small doses of “cardiotoxin,” which is a type of snake venom. As you might have guessed, cardiotoxin causes muscle damage, but only in a limited area of the body.
After 10 days, the scientists found that the control group had not recovered as quickly as the genetically engineered group had. In fact, the mice lacking IKK2 had greater numbers of large muscle fibers in the area injured by the snake venom, which means that the muscles would be stronger.
The results of these two tests mean that the NF-Kappa-B protein seems to have a role in causing muscle wasting. Why a protein that’s needed in the body — for example, it helps trigger the immune system’s inflammatory response when there are “invaders” — would cause such a negative effect remains unanswered.
However, if the positive results of this study can be reproduced in humans, it’s looking like we might soon have a way to treat and even prevent muscle wasting. This means that individuals who are bedridden because of cancer, surgery, injury, or other illnesses won’t have to deal with the side effect of losing their muscle strength. Moreover, there’s the possibility that people born with diseases affecting their muscles could lead more normal lives.
Lastly, this finding could lead to significant improvement in quality of life for our aging population. As we get older, the muscles in our bodies can no longer regenerate as quickly as they once could when we were young; this leads to a weakening of the muscles. It’s a vicious cycle, because the weaker our bodies become, the less likely we are to be active, which leads to further degeneration. The scientists involved in this study believe that a gene therapy involving the switching off of NF-Kappa-B could be on the horizon.
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Tags: alternative health news, exercise
