Ohio Musculoskeletal and Neurological Institute (OMNI), Ohio University, 236 Irvine Hall, Athens, OH, 45701, USA,
J Cachexia Sarcopenia Muscle. 2012 Jun;3(2):95-109. doi: 10.1007/s13539-011-0054-2. Epub 2012 Feb 3.
The deterioration of skeletal muscle with advancing age has long been anecdotally recognized and has been of scientific interest for more than 150 years. Over the past several decades, the scientific and medical communities have recognized that skeletal muscle dysfunction (e.g., muscle weakness, poor muscle coordination, etc.) is a debilitating and life-threatening condition in the elderly. For example, the age-associated loss of muscle strength is highly associated with both mortality and physical disability. It is well-accepted that voluntary muscle force production is not solely dependent upon muscle size, but rather results from a combination of neurologic and skeletal muscle factors, and that biologic properties of both of these systems are altered with aging. Accordingly, numerous scientists and clinicians have used the term "muscle quality" to describe the relationship between voluntary muscle strength and muscle size. In this review article, we discuss the age-associated changes in the neuromuscular system-starting at the level of the brain and proceeding down to the subcellular level of individual muscle fibers-that are potentially influential in the etiology of dynapenia (age-related loss of muscle strength and power).
骨骼肌随年龄增长而恶化早已被人们以传闻形式认知，并引起科学界关注已有 150 多年。在过去几十年中，科学界和医学界已认识到，骨骼肌功能障碍（例如肌肉无力、肌肉协调性差等）是老年人衰弱和危及生命的状况。例如，与年龄相关的肌肉力量丧失与死亡率和身体残疾高度相关。人们普遍认为，自主肌肉力量的产生不仅取决于肌肉大小，还取决于神经和骨骼肌因素的综合作用，而这两个系统的生物学特性都会随年龄而改变。因此，许多科学家和临床医生使用“肌肉质量”一词来描述自主肌肉力量与肌肉大小之间的关系。在这篇综述文章中，我们讨论了与年龄相关的神经肌肉系统变化，这些变化从大脑开始，一直延伸到单个肌肉纤维的亚细胞水平，这些变化可能对 dynapenia（与年龄相关的肌肉力量和力量丧失）的病因有影响。
