Scientists have found a way to combat age-related muscle loss

Sarcopenia, an age-related atrophic degenerative change in skeletal muscle, affects up to 16% of the world's aging population. This disease is characterized by loss of both muscle mass and functionality. To date, there is no panacea or treatment that can stop its progression, let alone reverse it. In most cases, doctors only try to slow muscle loss through lifestyle and diet changes.

Now, scientists at the Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST) in South Korea have developed a new bioelectrical therapy that repairs muscle cells. So far, its effect has been proven in aging mice, but researchers are confident that a similar effect will occur in humans.

The institute's team has developed a biochip-based electrical stimulation (ES) platform that detects aging muscle cells. Using this, they were able to determine the optimal ES conditions leading to tissue regeneration. Although such stimulation has the potential to damage muscles, the researchers believe that at optimal levels the effects will be positive.

This optimal setting has already been tested on aging mice by subjecting them to bioelectrical therapy for six weeks. At the end of the trial, the animals had improved muscle mass and muscle quality. Increases in contractile force and tissue formation were also observed, suggesting that the treatment not only restored mass but also improved underlying function.

ES tests on humans are ahead. Current study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).