Researchers here assess the effects of supplementation with the L-BAIBA metabolite combined with exercise in older mice. It modestly improves both muscle and bone, adding it to the long list of approaches that can help in some small way to resist the age-related declines in muscle mass, muscle strength, and bone mineral density. As often noted here, something better than this is required if we want to control aging rather than merely gently slow it down. Tinkering with metabolism can and does have small positive effects, which unfortunately combine in unpredictable ways, but if we want bigger and better outcomes, then we have to focus instead on repair of the cell and tissue damage that causes aging. You can't fix a malfunctioning engine by changing the oil mix, and you can't meaningfully rejuvenate a human (or a mouse) by altering metabolite intake.
Contracting skeletal muscles secrete the metabolite L-β-aminoisobutyric acid (L-BAIBA), which when supplemented in the diet can mitigate disuse-induced musculoskeletal dysfunction. However, the effects of L-BAIBA supplementation alone and combined with exercise on cardiac and musculoskeletal properties are currently unknown. We hypothesized that exercise with L-BAIBA supplementation would promote greater cardiac and musculoskeletal benefits than exercise alone. To investigate this hypothesis, we subjected 12-month-old (as a model of middle-age) male C57BL6 mice to voluntary wheel running (VWR) with L-BAIBA (100mg/kg/day) (VWR+L-BAIBA), VWR alone, L-BAIBA alone, or none (CTRL) for three months.
Soleus muscles from VWR+L-BAIBA, but not VWR, were larger, contracted more forcefully, and contained more slow-oxidative type I myofibers compared to CTRL. In extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscle, VWR but not VWR+L-BAIBA improved fatigue resistance and caffeine-induced recovery. In bone, VWR+L-BAIBA but not VWR showed lower bone marrow adiposity, higher trabecular thickness, and connectivity, smaller bone diameter and Moment of Inertia, but higher Modulus of Elasticity than CTRL, suggesting L-BAIBA delays aging-induced periosteal expansion due to better bone material qualities.
These findings suggest a physiological interaction between exercise and L-BAIBA supplementation to improve soleus muscle and bone properties and reduce bone marrow adiposity.
Link: https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.206325
View the full article at FightAging
