-----------------------------------------------------------------
University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
Public Affairs
301 University Boulevard, Suite 136, Galveston, Texas 77555-0802
(409) 772-2618 (800) 228-1841
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE: Monday, February 14, 2000
FROM: Alana Mikkelsen, (409) 772-8774; [email protected]
SOURCES: For comment, contact James Goodwin at (409) 772-1987.
SHEDDING LIGHT ON AGE-RELATED MUSCLE LOSS
GALVESTON, Texas -- Becoming a burden to loved ones is a prevalent fear among aging Americans. Generally, they want to avoid nursing homes or prolonged hospital stays -- and live at home -- as long as possible. A new research center at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) intends to help them do just that.
The National Institute on Aging has given UTMB $6.5 million to create a Claude D. Pepper Older American Independence Center, one of only 10 such centers in the United States and the only one in the Southwest. The centers are named after Claude D. Pepper, a Florida politician who championed the rights of the elderly and helped create the National Institute on Aging, one of the National Institutes of Health.
All 10 centers are dedicated to preventing loss of independence in older Americans by studying the biology underlying ailments that lead to age-related disability. The researchers then use that basic scientific knowledge to develop and test interventions designed to forestall such disabilities. While most of the centers recruit elderly volunteers to study an array of diseases, the UTMB center will conduct studies with a single and unique focus: Its goal is to help Americans retain or improve basic muscle function as they age.
"Loss of muscle function is one of the most devastating aspects of aging," says John Papaconstantinou, co-director of the new center. "Everyone goes through it, and it undermines a broad range of everyday activities, including your ability to walk up stairs, get out of a chair, or tie your shoe."
"Most people wind up in a nursing home not because they're demented, but because they can't walk," says geriatrician James Goodwin, director of the new center and of UTMB's existing Sealy Center on Aging. "We know people lose muscle mass as they age, and we've always known that's a problem. But there's been very little research into what causes muscle wasting or how to fix it. We plan to fill that knowledge gap."
The UTMB center primarily will investigate how exercise, drugs, hormones such as testosterone, and nutritional factors such as fat, carbohydrate, protein and amino acid intake -- alone or in combination -- affect muscle mass and strength. (Amino acids are a building block of proteins.) Many of the studies will be based on intricate methods that allow scientists to see whether the body is building muscle at a given moment or tearing it down. UTMB has developed special expertise in this field based on techniques pioneered by Robert Wolfe, a professor of surgery and anesthesiology at UTMB and a world leader in the study of muscle physiology. UTMB researchers -- more than 60 in all -- also will study which genes regulate muscle function and how, and they will investigate how underlying physiological changes relate to improvement in muscle function or strength.
The combined knowledge, says Goodwin, will not only help scientists better understand how the aging process affects muscles but also help mitigate the effects of other age-related deteriorations, such as loss of eyesight, reflexes and balance. That understanding could, among other things, help the elderly avoid potentially disastrous falls which -- along with the fractures that often result from them -- are one of the most common reasons older Americans become institutionalized.
"If we are going to improve the lot of the elderly, we have to be able to prove that a specific intervention improves muscle strength or function and helps people get to the refrigerator better, dress themselves better, or drive a car better," Goodwin says. "If you're talking about a frail old lady who might break her hip, amino acids might be a good intervention for her, but we don't know that yet for sure. The Pepper Center will allow us to ask those questions and document the answers."
###
NOTE TO REPORTERS: To see studies of muscle function in action, call the UTMB Office of Public Affairs at (409) 772-2618.
ABOUT JOINING A STUDY: For information about participating in studies of age-related muscle function at the UTMB Claude Pepper Older American Independence Center, call Susan Minello, recruitment coordinator, at (409) 772-8350 or 1-800-298-7015. Researchers are looking for volunteers who are 60 years of age or older and in general good health. Study lengths vary from 24 hours to three months. Participants will receive free lab tests and health screening, plus compensation for time and travel.
RSS