Brook Matthew S
Medical Research Council Versus Arthritis Centre for Musculoskeletal Ageing Research, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
NIHR Nottingham BRC, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
Exp Physiol. 2025 Jul;110(7):949-960. doi: 10.1113/EP092016. Epub 2025 Apr 24.
This review highlights recent advancements in our understanding of muscle protein synthesis (MPS) across the lifespan, with a focus on dietary protein strategies to support muscle health. Given that skeletal muscle is crucial for whole-body metabolism, movement and independence, maintaining muscle mass throughout life is essential. However, the gradual decline in muscle mass and strength with age, known as sarcopenia, represents a significant health concern. Muscle mass is regulated by the balance of MPS and muscle protein breakdown, with dietary protein intake playing a central role in stimulating MPS and maintaining a positive protein balance. Much of our current understanding of protein intake, specifically its quantity, quality and distribution, comes from stable isotope-labelled amino acid methods. These techniques, however, are limited by time constraints and controlled settings, providing only brief snapshots of MPS dynamics. The use of deuterium oxide (D₂O) has provided new insights, enabling long-term measures of muscle protein metabolism in free-living conditions. Measurements of longer-term MPS using D₂O suggest that older adults might benefit from protein intakes of >1.2 g/kg/day to enhance MPS. Additionally, replacing protein in the diet with higher-quality sources or enriching lower protein intakes with leucine can further increase MPS. Nevertheless, discrepancies remain regarding optimal protein requirements and the long-term efficacy of supplementing with enriched suboptimal protein doses. The continued application of D₂O in dietary protein research has the potential to provide further insights into the prolonged effects of various protein strategies on muscle preservation across the lifespan.
本综述重点介绍了我们对一生中肌肉蛋白合成（MPS）理解的最新进展，重点关注支持肌肉健康的膳食蛋白质策略。鉴于骨骼肌对全身代谢、运动和独立性至关重要，终生维持肌肉质量至关重要。然而，随着年龄增长肌肉质量和力量逐渐下降，即肌肉减少症，是一个重大的健康问题。肌肉质量由MPS和肌肉蛋白分解的平衡调节，膳食蛋白质摄入在刺激MPS和维持正氮平衡方面起着核心作用。我们目前对蛋白质摄入的理解，特别是其数量、质量和分布，大多来自稳定同位素标记氨基酸方法。然而，这些技术受到时间限制和控制环境的制约，只能提供MPS动态的简短快照。氧化氘（D₂O）的使用提供了新的见解，能够在自由生活条件下对肌肉蛋白代谢进行长期测量。使用D₂O对长期MPS的测量表明，老年人可能从>1.2 g/kg/天的蛋白质摄入量中受益，以增强MPS。此外，用更高质量的来源替代饮食中的蛋白质或用亮氨酸丰富较低的蛋白质摄入量可以进一步增加MPS。然而，关于最佳蛋白质需求以及补充亚最佳蛋白质剂量的长期疗效仍存在差异。D₂O在膳食蛋白质研究中的持续应用有可能进一步深入了解各种蛋白质策略对一生中肌肉保存的长期影响。
