Department of Geriatrics, National Clinical Research Center for Geriatrics, Beijing Hospital, National Center of Gerontology, Institute of Geriatric Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, 100730, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
The Key Laboratory of Geriatrics, Beijing Institute of Geriatrics, Institute of Geriatric Medicine, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing Hospital/National Center of Gerontology of National Health Commission, 100730, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
BMC Geriatr. 2022 Mar 25;22(1):249. doi: 10.1186/s12877-022-02953-4.
Metabolic profiling may provide insights into the pathogenesis and identification of sarcopenia; however, data on the metabolic basis of sarcopenia and muscle-related parameters among older adults remain incompletely understood. This study aimed to identify the associations of metabolites with sarcopenia and its components, and to explore metabolic perturbations in older men, who have a higher prevalence of sarcopenia than women.
We simultaneously measured the concentrations of amino acids, carnitine, acylcarnitines, and lysophosphatidylcholines (LPCs) in serum samples from a cross-sectional study of 246 Chinese older men, using targeted metabolomics. Sarcopenia and its components, including skeletal muscle index (SMI), 6-m gait speed, and handgrip strength were assessed according to the algorithm of the Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia criteria. Associations were determined by univariate and multivariate analyses.
Sixty-five (26.4%) older men with sarcopenia and 181 (73.6%) without sarcopenia were included in the study. The level of isovalerylcarnitine (C5) was associated with the presence of sarcopenia and SMI. Regarding the overlapped metabolites for muscle parameters, among ten metabolites associated with muscle mass, six metabolites including leucine, octanoyl-L-carnitine (C8), decanoyl-L-carnitine (C10), dodecanoyl-L-carnitine (C12) and tetradecanoyl-L-carnitine (C14), and LPC18:2 were associated with handgrip strength, and three of which (C12, C14, and LPC18:2) were also associated with gait speed. Specifically, tryptophan was positively associated and glycine was negatively associated with handgrip strength, while glutamate was positively correlated with gait speed. Isoleucine, branched chain amino acids, and LPC16:0 were positively associated with SMI. Moreover, the levels of LPC 16:0,18:2 and 18:0 contributed significantly to the model discriminating between older men with and without sarcopenia, whereas there were no significant associations for other amino acids, acylcarnitines, and LPC lipids.
These results showed that specific and overlapped metabolites are associated with sarcopenic parameters in older men. This study highlights the potential roles of acylcarnitines and LPCs in sarcopenia and its components, which may provide valuable information regarding the pathogenesis and management of sarcopenia.
代谢组学可能为肌少症的发病机制和鉴定提供新的见解；然而，老年人肌少症及其与肌肉相关参数的代谢基础数据仍不完全清楚。本研究旨在鉴定代谢物与肌少症及其成分的相关性，并探讨老年男性中代谢紊乱的情况，因为与女性相比，老年男性肌少症的患病率更高。
我们使用靶向代谢组学方法，同时测量了 246 名中国老年男性的横断面研究中血清样本中的氨基酸、肉碱、酰基肉碱和溶血磷脂酰胆碱 (LPC) 的浓度。根据亚洲肌少症工作组的标准算法评估肌少症及其成分，包括骨骼肌指数 (SMI)、6 米步行速度和握力。通过单变量和多变量分析确定相关性。
研究纳入了 65 名（26.4%）患有肌少症和 181 名（73.6%）未患有肌少症的老年男性。异戊酰肉碱 (C5) 的水平与肌少症和 SMI 的存在相关。在与肌肉参数相关的重叠代谢物方面，在与肌肉质量相关的 10 种代谢物中，有 6 种代谢物（亮氨酸、辛酰肉碱 (C8)、癸酰肉碱 (C10)、十二烷酰肉碱 (C12) 和十四烷酰肉碱 (C14) 和溶血磷脂酰胆碱 18:2）与握力相关，其中 3 种代谢物（C12、C14 和 LPC18:2）也与步行速度相关。具体来说，色氨酸与握力呈正相关，甘氨酸与握力呈负相关，而谷氨酸与步行速度呈正相关。异亮氨酸、支链氨基酸和溶血磷脂酰胆碱 16:0 与 SMI 呈正相关。此外，溶血磷脂酰胆碱 16:0、18:2 和 18:0 的水平对区分有肌少症和无肌少症的老年男性具有显著意义，而其他氨基酸、酰基肉碱和 LPC 脂质则没有显著相关性。
这些结果表明，特定和重叠的代谢物与老年男性的肌少症参数相关。本研究强调了酰基肉碱和 LPC 在肌少症及其成分中的潜在作用，这可能为肌少症的发病机制和治疗提供有价值的信息。
