Research - Muscle Regeneration :)

Click here to go to the article I researched!

What are muscles responsible for?

40% of our body mass!

breathing

eating

posture

walking 

reflexes

heat generation 

metabolism

Muscle loss is called -  atrophy or wasting

Muscle loss causes:

disuse

injury 

starvation 

diseases such as cancer 

sepsis 

neuromuscular disorders

ageing

Muscle mass is reduced about 1/3 when humans reach the age of 50-80

The University of Western Australia 

has researched many things about muscles.. not only how they affect they body and also the heart as well

They took aged mice and this was exactly what they did!!

SOURCE: (http://www.anhb.uwa.edu.au/research/student-projects/muscle-regeneration)

Weights – Body weights, muscle weights

1. Levels of muscle IGF-1 in young and old transgenic mice (IGF-1 elisa)
2. Muscle fibre type changes (Immunostaining)
3. Myofibre number and size (cross-sectional area) changes (HandE staining)
4. Neuromuscular Junctions – morphology and innervation (Immunostaining and Imaging on Confocal lazer microscope)
5. Motoneuron counts in the spinal cord (toluidine blue staining/developing other methods)
6. Oxidative stress measurements
7. Levels of neurotrophic factors (qPCR/mRNA levels/Western Blots)9. Signalling pathways – Phosphoprotein signalling (Western Blots)

Therefore, we can infer that the muscle anatomy in the body is very important. Without your muscles you would be 40% less of the person you are now, and stationary. You wouldn't be able to move, eat, or breath; pretty much nothing! This is why the research is so important especially in the elderly because when they loose muscle mass, they become weaker and fall more which leads to more fractures and even possibly death! Which is very scary! :/ The more you exercise, the more muscle mass you have and are able to do more things! So, go out and exercise and keep your self healthy in other ways! That way you don't end up old and unable to walk, or even eat!