Dominic Stone
Muscle atrophy is the wasting or loss of muscle tissue. It can be caused by immobility, ageing, malnutrition, medications, or a wide range of injuries or diseases that impact the musculoskeletal or nervous system. There are three types of muscle atrophy: physiologic, pathologic, and neurogenic. Physiologic atrophy is caused by not using the muscles enough and can often be reversed with exercise and better nutrition. Pathologic atrophy is seen with ageing, starvation, and diseases such as Cushing's disease. Neurogenic atrophy is the most severe type of muscle atrophy.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Definition | Wasting (thinning) or loss of muscle tissue |
| Types | Physiologic, pathologic, and neurogenic |
| Causes | Immobility, aging, malnutrition, medications, injuries, diseases |
| Effect | Muscle weakness, disability |
| Reversibility | Can be reversed with exercise, better nutrition, and nutritional therapy |
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What You'll Learn
Muscle atrophy and immobility
Muscle atrophy is the wasting or loss of muscle tissue. It can be caused by immobility, aging, malnutrition, medications, or a wide range of injuries or diseases that impact the musculoskeletal or nervous system. Disuse causes rapid muscle atrophy and often occurs during injury or illness that requires immobilization of a limb or bed rest. Depending on the duration of disuse and the health of the individual, this may be fully reversed with activity.
There are three types of muscle atrophy: physiologic, pathologic, and neurogenic. Physiologic atrophy is caused by not using the muscles enough. This type of atrophy can often be reversed with exercise and better nutrition. People who are most affected are those who have seated jobs, health problems that limit movement, or decreased activity levels. Scientists have found that a major reason people lose muscle is because they stop doing everyday activities that use muscle power, not just because they grow older.
Pathologic atrophy is seen with aging, starvation, and diseases such as Cushing's disease (because of taking too much of a medicine called corticosteroids or having overactive adrenal glands). Malnutrition first causes fat loss but may progress to muscle atrophy in prolonged starvation and can be reversed with nutritional therapy.
Neurogenic atrophy is the most severe type of muscle atrophy. Muscles that lose their nerve supply can atrophy and simply waste away. Mitochondrial function is crucial to skeletal muscle health and detrimental changes at the level of the mitochondria may contribute to muscle atrophy.
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Muscle atrophy and ageing
Muscle atrophy is the wasting or loss of muscle tissue. It can be caused by immobility, ageing, malnutrition, medications, or a wide range of injuries or diseases that impact the musculoskeletal or nervous system.
Ageing is one of the most common causes of muscle atrophy. As people age, they tend to lose muscle mass and strength. This is due to a decrease in physical activity and a loss of nerve supply to the muscles. Physiologic atrophy, caused by a lack of muscle use, is common in older people. This can often be reversed with exercise and better nutrition.
Pathologic atrophy is also associated with ageing, as well as starvation and diseases such as Cushing's disease. This type of atrophy is caused by taking too much medication, such as corticosteroids, or having overactive adrenal glands.
Neurogenic atrophy is the most severe type of muscle atrophy and is caused by a loss of nerve supply to the muscles. This can lead to the muscles wasting away. Mitochondrial function is crucial to skeletal muscle health, and detrimental changes at the mitochondrial level may contribute to muscle atrophy.
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Types of muscle atrophy
Muscle atrophy is the wasting or loss of muscle tissue. There are three types of muscle atrophy: physiologic, pathologic, and neurogenic.
Physiologic atrophy is caused by not using muscles enough. This type of atrophy can often be reversed with exercise and better nutrition. People who are most affected are those who have seated jobs, health problems that limit movement, or decreased activity levels.
Pathologic atrophy is seen with ageing, starvation, and diseases such as Cushing's disease (caused by taking too much medicine called corticosteroids or having overactive adrenal glands). It can also be caused by hypothyroidism.
Neurogenic atrophy is the most severe type of muscle atrophy. It occurs when muscles lose their nerve supply and simply waste away.
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Medication-induced muscle atrophy
Muscle atrophy is the wasting or loss of muscle tissue. It can be caused by immobility, aging, malnutrition, medications, or a wide range of injuries or diseases that impact the musculoskeletal or nervous system.
Medications are known to cause muscle atrophy, usually due to a direct effect on muscles. This includes glucocorticoids causing glucocorticoid myopathy or medications toxic to muscle such as doxorubicin. Disorders of the endocrine system such as Cushing's disease or hypothyroidism are also known to cause muscle atrophy. Cushing's disease is caused by taking too much of a medicine called corticosteroids.
The ubiquitin-proteasome system plays an important role in the proteolysis progress during skeletal muscle atrophy which can be blocked by some proteasome inhibitors. However, few studies have demonstrated the ability of these inhibitors to preserve muscle mass and architecture under catabolic conditions in vivo. The insulin-like growth factor-1/phosphatidylinositide 3-kinases/protein kinase B/mammalian target of rapamycin (IGF-1/PI3K/Akt/mTOR) pathway was associated with anabolic pathways. The activation of IGF-1 causes muscle hypertrophy; however, it cannot be used as a drug target.
Resveratrol prevents dexamethasone-induced expression of the muscle atrophy-related ubiquitin ligases atrogin-1 and MuRF1 in cultured myotubes through a SIRT1-dependent mechanism. Clenbuterol suppresses proteasomal and lysosomal proteolysis and atrophy-related genes in denervated rat soleus muscles independently of Akt.
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Muscle atrophy and malnutrition
Muscle atrophy is the wasting or loss of muscle tissue. It can be caused by immobility, aging, malnutrition, medications, or a wide range of injuries or diseases that impact the musculoskeletal or nervous system. Malnutrition first causes fat loss but may progress to muscle atrophy in prolonged starvation. Malnutrition can be reversed with nutritional therapy.
There are three types of muscle atrophy: physiologic, pathologic, and neurogenic. Physiologic atrophy is caused by not using the muscles enough. This type of atrophy can often be reversed with exercise and better nutrition. People who are most affected are those who have seated jobs, health problems that limit movement, or decreased activity levels. Pathologic atrophy is seen with aging, starvation, and diseases such as Cushing's disease (because of taking too much medicine called corticosteroids or having overactive adrenal glands). Disorders of the endocrine system such as Cushing's disease or hypothyroidism are known to cause muscle atrophy. Neurogenic atrophy is the most severe type of muscle atrophy.
Muscle atrophy leads to muscle weakness and causes disability. Disuse causes rapid muscle atrophy and often occurs during injury or illness that requires immobilization of a limb or bed rest. Depending on the duration of disuse and the health of the individual, this may be fully reversed with activity.
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Frequently asked questions
Muscle atrophy is the wasting or loss of muscle tissue.
Muscle atrophy can be caused by immobility, aging, malnutrition, medications, or a wide range of injuries or diseases that impact the musculoskeletal or nervous system.
There are three types of muscle atrophy: physiologic, pathologic, and neurogenic. Physiologic atrophy is caused by not using the muscles enough, pathologic atrophy is seen with aging, starvation, and diseases such as Cushing's disease, and neurogenic atrophy is the most severe type.
Treatment for muscle atrophy may include physical therapy, functional electric stimulation, or surgery. Depending on the cause, it may also be possible to reverse muscle atrophy with exercise and better nutrition.
