Metformin, a common diabetes medication, has been identified by researchers to be able to stop muscular atrophy and fibrosis, which may help older people recover from injuries more quickly. In a research with older persons during periods of muscular disuse and recovery, the drug’s benefits were seen. It targets senescent cells, which have an impact on muscle function.
Diabetes Drug
You might not immediately think about diabetes when thinking about muscle function. However, a common diabetic medication that regulates blood sugar can also stop muscle atrophy and muscular fibrosis, allowing older people to recover from illness or injury more quickly.
Metformin, a common medication that has been used to treat diabetes for more than 50 years, has been discovered by researchers from the University of Utah Health to have unexpected cellular benefits. Senescent cells, sometimes known as “zombie-like cells,” have an effect on muscle function and can be targeted. Senescent cells release substances linked to inflammation that may be the cause of fibrotic tissue, which is a tissue stiffening or scarring.
You might not immediately think about diabetes when thinking about muscle function. However, a common diabetic medication that regulates blood sugar can also stop muscle atrophy and muscular fibrosis, allowing older people to recover from illness or injury more quickly.
Metformin also slows the loss of muscular mass. The journal Ageing Cell published their findings.
According to Micah Drummond, Ph.D., senior author of the study and professor of physical therapy and sports training at the College of Health, “We’re interested in the clinical application of this research.” “For instance, senior knee operations are infamously difficult to recover from. Could giving a medication similar to metformin during the healing phase hasten the muscles’ return to normal function?
Reinvigorating muscle recovery
Adults who don’t use their muscles regularly run the danger of falling, being admitted to the hospital, or developing a chronic illness as they get older. The goal of the study team was to identify a therapy approach that could effectively address both muscle regeneration and disuse atrophy.
No matter your age, there is a level of senescent cells that is ideal and advantageous. Short-term senescence is necessary for a successful recovery from damage in younger, healthier people, and totally inhibiting the senescent impact hinders the body’s attempts to repair. A younger person may typically recover from muscular disuse more quickly and without the need of an intervention like Metformin.
Drummond says, “In the context of ageing, we know that there is immunological malfunction. Senescent cells accumulate as you age because your body finds it more difficult to get rid of them. The elderly recover significantly more slowly from periods of inactivity because of this.
Pre-clinical research has proven that metformin has anti-senescent effects. The team enlisted 20 healthy older persons, both male and female, for a multi-week trial to assess the intervention in humans. Prior to the intervention, which included five days of bed rest, they had patients undergo a muscle biopsy and MRI. During a two-week “run-in” phase, one group of ten received Metformin while the other ten received placebo pills. Each group then kept receiving either the placebo or Metformin during bed rest.
Participants underwent another muscle biopsy and an MRI after the bed rest, then treatments were stopped. All patients underwent a final muscle biopsy after completing a seven-day re-ambulation period.
“We saw two things in our study,” Drummond claims. “During a period of bed rest, those who took Metformin exhibited decreased muscular atrophy. Their muscles also demonstrated less fibrosis or extra collagen during the healing period. The muscle may find it more difficult to operate correctly as a result of that buildup.
The research team evaluated muscle biopsies from study participants to link these findings to senescence. They discovered that those on Metformin had fewer signs of cellular senescence.
This is the first paper that has made the direct connection between a therapy targeting cellular senescence and improved muscle recovery following disuse in aging,” says lead author Jonathan Petrocelli, Ph.D. He explains that metformin helps muscle cells better remodel and repair tissue during periods of recovery after inactivity.
“Our real goal is to have patients maintain their muscle mass and function as they age because atrophy and weakness are some of the strongest predictors of disease development and death,” he says.
In light of these results, Drummond’s group is investigating the possibility of mixing the medication with leucine, an amino acid that fosters development and might hasten healing even further. Preclinical animal tests have already shown this combination’s effectiveness.
Drummond continues, “It’s interesting to discover that we can utilise metformin to speed healing for older patients because it’s affordable, effective, and relatively safe.
