HORMONAL REGULATORS OF MUSCLE AND METABOLISM IN AGING (HORMA)--1 R01 AG18169-01

本子项目是利用由NIH/NCRR资助的中心赠款提供的资源的众多研究子项目之一。子项目和研究者（PI）可能已经从另一个NIH来源获得了主要资金，因此可以在其他CRISP条目中表示。列出的机构是中心的，不一定是研究者的机构。老年人经历骨骼肌质量、肌肉力量、日常生活活动功能能力的逐渐丧失，情绪受损，并最终失去独立性。衰老还与性腺功能丧失和生长激素（GH/ igf）反应的完整性有关。然而，这些激素的缺乏与肌肉减少症和衰老过程中的虚弱之间的关系尚未确定，或者这两种激素系统在维持正常肌肉质量和功能方面是否存在相互作用。我们假设这两种激素系统通过不同的互补机制调节肌肉骨骼蛋白质量和收缩纤维，并且睾酮和GH/IGF-1的最佳水平对于维持骨骼肌质量、肌肉力量、日常生活的全部功能活动、生活质量和衰老过程中的独立性是必要的。这项研究的结果将导致对雄激素缺乏和体弱多病在老年人中相对贡献的重要机制理解，这些老年人与肌肉质量和力量减少有关。该结果也应该为未来测试新的、新颖的治疗策略提供有价值的信息，这些治疗策略在与年龄相关的肌肉减少症和虚弱中比静脉注射治疗更容易耐受和方便。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Elderly persons experience progressive loss of skeletal muscle mass, muscle strength, functional capacity for activities of daily living, have impaired mood, and eventually lose independence. Aging is also associated with a loss of gonadal function and integrity of the growth hormone (GH/IGF-laxis. However, the relationship of deficiencies of these hormones axes to sarcopenia and frailty in aging has not been established or whether there is an interactions of these two hormone systems in maintaining normal muscle mass and function. We hypothesize that both hormone systems regulate musculoskeletal protein mass and contractile fibers by different and complimentary mechanisms and that optimal levels of both testosterone and GH/IGF-1 are necessary to maintain skeletal muscle mass, muscular strength, full functional activities of daily living, quality of life, and independence during the aging process. The findings of this study should result in important mechanistic understanding of the relative contributions of androgen deficiency and hyposomatotropism in elderly persons with frailty related to decreased muscle mass and strength. The results should also provide valuable information for future testing of new, novel treatment strategies which are more tolerable and convenient than parenteral therapies in age associated sarcopenia with frailty.