Site-specific failure of redox homeostasis as a cause of age-related loss of skeletal muscle mass and function

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As we age, our muscles become smaller and weaker, are more susceptible to damage following exercise and recovery from damage is severely impaired. Loss of muscle leads to a severe reduction in quality of life for the elderly due to increased need for assistance and residential care and increased risk of hypothermia and incontinence. We plan to investigate in mice how this age-related loss of muscle occurs as a means of eventually developing ways of preventing these changes in later life in people. A number of studies have indicated that highly reactive substances called free radicals are involved in causing ageing-related changes in many tissues, but the way that they lead to loss of muscle is unclear. We will investigate the possibility that these free radicals react with some key proteins in the muscle that regulate the way that muscle adapts to everyday tasks to prevent damage to the muscle. Our investigations will characterise the processes that occur during ageing and identify potential ways in which we might modify the muscles of old mice (and potentially those of old people) to help restore the ability to respond to everyday use and hence maintain their muscle mass.