Aging enhances pro-atrogenic gene expression and skeletal muscle loss following respiratory syncytial virus infection
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Sagawe, J Sophie
Loake, Verity
Openshaw, Peter
Kemp, Paul
Culley, Fiona
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Aging and many age-related health conditions are associated with skeletal muscle loss. Furthermore, older adults are more susceptible to severe respiratory infections, which can in turn lead to muscle wasting. The mechanisms by which respiratory viral infection can impact skeletal muscle in older adults are not well understood. We determined the effects of acute infection with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) on the lung and skeletal muscle of aged mice. RSV infection caused more severe disease in aged mice with enhanced weight loss, reduced feeding, higher viral load, and greater airway inflammation. Aged but not young mice showed decreased leg muscle weight at the peak of illness and decreased size of leg muscle fibers. Aged mice increased muscle-specific expression of atrophy-promoting enzymes (Atrogin-1 and MuRF-1) and failed to increase the rate of muscle protein synthesis during RSV infection. In aged mice, the changes in Atrogin-1 and MuRF-1 gene expression in skeletal muscle correlated with IL-6 levels in the lungs. These findings indicate that RSV infection of aged mice provides a model for studying the diverse adverse systemic consequences of respiratory viral infections on health and wellbeing in older adults.
Date Issued
2025-04-01
Date Acceptance
2024-09-25
Citation
GeroScience, 2025, 47 (2), pp.1485-1500
ISSN
2509-2723
Publisher
Springer
Start Page
1485
End Page
1500
Journal / Book Title
GeroScience
Volume
47
Issue
2
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2024, Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Identifier
10.1007/s11357-024-01370-2
Subjects
Respiratory
Infection
Aging
Muscle
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2024-10-02