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Regulatory roles of microRNAs in sarcopenia and exercise intervention

LIANG Ji-Ling¹, XIE Jin-Feng¹, WANG Cen-Yi², CHEN Ning^3,*

¹Graduate School, Wuhan Sports University, Wuhan 430079, China；²School of Health Sciences, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA 15282, USA；³Tianjiu Research and Development Center for Exercise Nutrition and Foods, Hubei Key Laboratory of Sport Training and Monitoring, College of Health Science, Wuhan Sports University, Wuhan 430079, China

Abstract

Sarcopenia is an age-related degenerative disease, in which skeletal muscle mass and function are reduced during aging process. Physical intervention is one of the most effective strategies available for the treatment of sarcopenia. Studies have shown that microRNAs (miRNAs), as important regulators of gene expression, play an important role in maintaining the homeostasis of senescent skeletal muscle cells by regulating skeletal muscle cell development (proliferation and differentiation), mitochondrial biogenesis, protein synthesis and degradation, inflammatory response and metabolic pathways. Furthermore, exercise can combat age-related changes in muscle mass, composition and function, which is associated with the changes in the expression and biological functions of miRNAs in skeletal muscle cells. In this article, we systematically review the regulatory mechanisms of miRNAs in skeletal muscle aging, and discuss the regulatory roles and molecular targets of exercise-mediated miRNAs in muscular atrophy during aging process, which may provide novel insights into the prevention and treatment of sarcopenia.

Key words: sarcopenia; microRNA; exercise intervention; signal pathway

Received: 2019-07-18　　Accepted: 2020-01-02

Corresponding author: 陈宁　　E-mail: nchen510@gmail.com

DOI: 10.13294/j.aps.2020.0061

Citing This Article：

LIANG Ji-Ling, XIE Jin-Feng, WANG Cen-Yi, CHEN Ning. Regulatory roles of microRNAs in sarcopenia and exercise intervention. Acta Physiol Sin 2020; 72 (5): 667-676 (in Chinese with English abstract).