NEUROMUSCULAR ADAPTATIONS IN THE AGED AND YOUNG

描述（申请人的摘要）：运动和减少的影响 对骨骼肌的活性已经得到很好的表征。然而， 已知的关于活动诱导的神经肌肉接头的适应 以及老化对这些突触的影响。这 不幸的是，鉴于我们社会的“老龄化”， 老年人的活动受限性伤害，以及越来越多的 我们的老年人参加锻炼计划。提出的总体目标 该项目旨在揭示神经肌肉系统的可塑性， 减少活动，并越来越受欢迎的娱乐形式， 康复锻炼，即，阻力训练（举重）， 年老和年轻的动物。该研究项目的具体目标是：1） 比较活动减少（肌肉卸载）对 神经肌肉系统的年轻人和老年人，2）以确定的影响， 衰老对神经肌肉系统对阻力训练的适应性的影响， 和3）评估两个重要的表达之间的关系， 突触调节蛋白（NT-4，N-CAM）和形态重塑 神经肌肉接头对阻力运动的反应，并减少 年轻人和老年人的肌肉。收集的数据将提供重要的 神经肌肉可塑性的新见解，以增加和减少活动， 年轻人和老年人。也许更重要的是，这些信息将有助于 制定最佳预防和康复措施， 年轻人和老年人的神经肌肉系统。

DESCRIPTION (Applicant's abstract): The effects of exercise and decreased activity on skeletal muscle have been well characterized. However, much less is known concerning activity-induced adaptations of the neuromuscular junctions that activate skeletal muscle, and the effects of aging on those synapses. This is unfortunate in view of the "graying" of our society, the greater incidence of mobility limiting injuries in the aged, and the increasing participation of our aged population in exercise programs. The overall goal of the proposed project is to shed light on the plasticity of the neuromuscular system to decreased activity, and to an increasingly popular form of recreational and rehabilitative exercise, i.e., resistance training (weight lifting) in both aged and young animals. The specific aims of the research project are: 1)to compare the effects of decreased activity (muscle unloading) on the neuromuscular systems of the young and the aged, 2) to determine the effects of aging on the adaptations of the neuromuscular system to resistance training, and 3) to assess the relationship between the expression of two important synaptic regulatory proteins (NT-4, N-CAM) and the morphological remodeling of neuromuscular junctions in response to resistance exercise, and decreased activity in young and aged muscles. The data gathered will provide important new insight on neuromuscular plasticity to increased and decreased activity in the young and the aged. Perhaps more important, this information will assist in the development of optimal preventative and rehabilitative measures concerning the neuromuscular system in the young and aged alike.