Plenary Lecture
Current understanding of cellular mechanism on sarcopenia
Associate Professor Kunihiro Sakuma
Research Center for Physical Fitness, Sports and Health
Toyohashi University of Technology
Japan
E-mail: ksakuma@las.tut.ac.jp
Abstract: The expected increase in the aging population will have a significant impact on society and the health system in the coming years and decades. Enhancing healthspan, “healthy aging”, and thus extending the time that the elderly are able to function independently is a significant task and is imperative. Sarcopenia, the age-related loss of skeletal muscle, is characterized by a deterioration of muscle quantity and quality leading to a gradual slowing of movement, a decline in strength and power, and an increased risk of fall-related injuries. Sarcopenia is largely attributed to various molecular mediators affecting fiber size, mitochondrial homeostasis, and apoptosis. Researchers indicates defects of Akt-mTOR and RhoA-SRF signaling in sarcopenic muscle. In contrast, many studies failed to significant activation in ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS), most potent regulator for muscle mass. In the quadriceps muscle of aged mice, our recent data clearly showed the p62/SQSTM1 and Beclin-1 protein, which represent lysosome-autophagy system. In different to rapid atrophy (cachexia, starvation, hindlimb suspension, etc), more slower muscle atrophy with age does not seem to be regulated by UPS.
Brief Biography of the Speaker: I graduated from the doctoral program in University of Tsukuba, Japan 1996. From 1996 to 2000, I worked as researcher in Department of Physiology, Institute for Developmental Research of Aichi Human Service Center. At this time, I studied mainly the molecular mechanism of merosin-deficient congenital muscular dystrophy. From 2000 to 2005, I worked as assistant professor, Department of Legal Medicine, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine. In this place, my major concern was the functional role of calcineurin on muscle regeneration and hypertrophy. My research interests, now in the Research Center for Physical Fitness, Sports and Health, Toyohashi University of Technology, focus on molecular mechanism of sarcopenia and this attenuating strategy (nutrient, pharmaceutical, exercise, etc), and particularly on autophagy process in sarcopenia. I am author of about 50 papers published in international journals and invited book chapters. I participated in the member of Editorial Board of several journal (International Journal of Biomedical Science, World Journal of Neurology, etc).