Abnormal fatty acid and amino acid metabolism in patients with sarcopenia

Abstract

Abstract BACKGROUND Age-associated skeletal muscle loss, a serious global health problem, causes undeniable distress to older people and communities. It can lead to disability and significant economic burden, with serious implications for people's quality of life and physical health. Relevant metabolic studies have shown that loss of skeletal muscle is closely associated with abnormalities in amino acid and fatty acid metabolism. A comprehensive study was conducted to delve into the factors associated with sarcopenia and the role of amino acid and fatty acid metabolism in the development of sarcopenia. METHODS In this study, we screened 650 patients with skeletal muscle reduction (sarcopenia) from 2965 elderly (≥ 60 years old) patients in outpatient clinic and randomly selected 100 elderly patients for a survey study, which we categorized into sarcopenic and non-sarcopenic groups according to the diagnostic criteria of Asian Working Group on Sarcopenia (AWGS). Each group had 25 patients each and we collected their general information and retained their serum samples for testing. RESULTS The results of the study showed that there was a significant difference in body mass index (BMI), grip strength, and albumin levels between these two groups of samples (all p-values were less than 0.05). This suggests that these physiological indicators are associated with the development of sarcopenia. In addition, we found no significant differences in total cholesteroll (TC), triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein (HDL-C), and low-density lipoprotein (LDL-C),levels between these two groups of samples. Upon further analysis of human serum metabolites, we found that arginine, histidine, leucine, palmitic acid, and carnitine levels were significantly different between the sarcopenia group and the non-sarcopenia group (all P-values were less than 0.05). These results reveal differences in amino acid and fatty acid metabolism between sarcopenia patients and non-sarcopenia patients. CONCLUSION There are differences in amino acid and fatty acid metabolism between sarcopenia and non-sarcopenia patients. By supplementing protein and essential amino acids, and reducing palmitic acid and carnitine levels, we can improve skeletal muscle mass and function, and enhance the quality of life in older adults. This finding provides new ideas and approaches for the prevention and treatment of age-related skeletal sarcopenia.