Metabolic changes in elderly people with sarcopenia

Abstract

Sarcopenia is a special condition that develops in older people. Sarcopenia represents a loss of muscle strength and mass in the elderly and is a common disease and is also associated with several adverse health effects. Due to the impact of sarcopenia on quality of life, disability and mortality, greater awareness is needed to correctly identify this condition and in particular its biological immunoendocrine markers. The purpose of the study was to study the characteristics of metabolism in sarcopenia in elderly people at the molecular, cellular and organizational levels. Material and methods. The study included 402 elderly people (199 men and 203 women, average age 68.9 ± 1.2 years), who are divided into three groups depending on the presence or absence of arterial hypertension and sarcopenia. The state of adipose and muscle tissue was studied using anthropometric measurements, bioimpedansometry and dynamometry. Results and discussion. The present study revealed a significant increase in energy exchange tension in patients with arterial hypertension, expressed in the increase in ADP content, but it was not enough to maintain the ATP/ADP ratio at the proper level. In patients with arterial hypertension and sarcopenia, a pronounced deficiency in ATP and ADP content, as well as ATP/ADP ratio was observed. The energy deficiency can also be explained by increase in lactate dehydrogenase activity in patients with arterial hypertension to compensate for energy deficiency by enhancing glycolysis processes. However, when sarcopenia was attached, this sanogenetic compensatory mechanism no longer worked. Conclusions. Dysfunction of adipose tissue in patients with arterial hypertension precedes the development of sarcopenia, while there is an increase in tension in energy exchange, expressed in elevation of ADP content, but when sarcopenia joins, there is a pronounced deficiency in both ATP and ADP content, as well as ATP/ADP ratio.