Determination of the Mechanisms that Cause Sarcopenia through cDNA Microarray.

Background: Sarcopenia, the aging-related deterioration of skeletal muscle, is a disease that is directly associated with quality of life. Given the trend of an increasing aging population worldwide, the prevention of aging-related diseases such as sarcopenia has become ever more important and urgent.
Objective: To identify potential therapeutic targets for this disease.
Methods: we used a bioinformatics approach of combining cDNA microarray analysis and protein-protein interaction prediction.
Results: We found 673 significant differentially expressed genes (128 upregulated and 545 downregulated) in sarcopenia patients of over 60 years of age. Most of the upregulated genes were involved in metabolic processes such as the PPAR signaling pathway. In particular, FABP4, PLIN1, and ADIPOQ were related to fatty acid and lipid metabolism. Some of the downregulated genes were located in the mitochondrial matrix. Additionally, through the protein interaction network analysis, we found two key molecules (MAP1LC3B and HSP90AB1) that were associated with autophagy.
Conclusions: These results suggest that mitochondrial dysfunction and lipid metabolism are associated with sarcopenia.
Competing Interests: No conflict of interest declared by authors