Does hypoxia cause sarcopenia? Prevention of hypoxia could reduce sarcopenia

: Sarcopenia is the physiological age-related reduction of muscle mass and strength. Considering that life span is correlated with metabolic rate and mitochondria are the site of oxygen consumption, muscle mitochondria volume densities were determined by morphometric analysis. We found a tight correlation between aging and hypoxia with decrease in muscle total mitochondria volume. Therefore, hypoxia and aging seem to share some common pathways, allowing hypoxic models to be used for the study of the aging processes. Additional research will be required to fully elucidate the correlations among aging, sarcopenia and hypoxia, but these findings provide a starting point for such investigations.