Skeletal muscle function in older people

                  

Original Editors - Your name will be added here if you created the original content for this page.

Top Contributors - Saeed Dokhnan, Kim Jackson and Lucinda hampton  

Introduction           

Aging effects all body organs and systems , one of these systems which we consider to discuss in this page is the skeletal muscle, there are many changes that occur to the muscular system due to aging process,.

By the age of 80, 40-50% of muscle sstrength, muscle mass, alpha motor neurons and muscle cell are lost. 

In  this page we will highlight the most important changes to muscles which affect their performances, and as the muscle and motor unit are interrelated to each other it is important to include the motor unit in this process

Effect of aging on the Motor Unit

In the aged motor unit there are decreased in the number of functional motor units associated with enlargement of the Cross sectional area of the remaining units, this motor unit remodelling is achieved by selective denervation of muscle fibers, especially type 2 b fibres, followed by re-ennervation by axonal spouting from juxtaposed innervation units

Effect of aging on the muscle

1. Muscle strength:
2. Contractility:
3. Mass:
4. Number of fibers:
5. Fiber area:
6. Type of fibers:
7. Local muscle endurance:

Recent related research(from pubmed)

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24948676

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24903024