Potential mechanisms underlying the role of chronic inflammation in age-related muscle wasting

Edward Jo, Sang-Rok Lee, Bong-Sup Park, Jeong-Su Kim

Sarcopenia, an age-related condition characterized by progressive skeletal muscle degeneration, might exist as one of the primary clinical conditions underlying severe functional impairment as well as increased risk of co-morbidities in the elderly. Although the etiology of sarcopenia remains multifaceted, age-related chronic inflammation has been strongly implicated in muscle wasting and related sequelae during advanced age. Recent evidence suggests that aberrant, unresolved alterations in regular inflammatory processes during advanced age might ultimately operate as the link that drives skeletal muscle to become more degenerative and dysfunctional in nature. Such negative atrophic muscular outcomes might result from inflammation-induced disruption of central mechanisms regulating skeletal muscle morphology and remodeling. In addition, recent findings demonstrate an adverse confluence between sarcopenia and excessive adiposity (i.e. sarcopenic obesity), as the co-existence of such adverse alterations in body composition may exacerbate systemic inflammation and muscle wasting in the elderly. The following evidence-based review serves to examine sarcopenia from a mechanistic perspective with emphasis on chronic inflammation.