Europe PMC

This website requires cookies, and the limited processing of your personal data in order to function. By using the site you are agreeing to this as outlined in our privacy notice and cookie policy.

What is the cause of the ageing atrophy? Total number, size and proportion of different fiber types studied in whole vastus lateralis muscle from 15- to 83-year-old men.

Author information

Affiliations

  • 1. Department of Anatomy, University of Umeå, Sweden.
      Authors
    • Lexell J 1
    (1 author)

ORCIDs linked to this article

Journal of the Neurological Sciences, 01 Apr 1988, 84(2-3):275-294
https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-510x(88)90132-3 PMID: 3379447 

Abstract 

In order to study the effects of increasing age on the human skeletal muscle, cross-sections (15 micron) of autopsied whole vastus lateralis muscle from 43 previously physically healthy men between 15 and 83 years of age were prepared and examined. The data obtained on muscle area, total number, size, proportion and distribution of type 1 (slow-twitch) and type 2 (fast-twitch) fibers were analysed using multivariate regression. The results show that the ageing atrophy of this muscle begins around 25 years of age and thereafter accelerates. This is caused mainly by a loss of fibers, with no predominant effect on any fiber type, and to a lesser extent by a reduction in fiber size, mostly of type 2 fibers. The results also suggest the occurrence of several other age-related adaptive mechanisms which could influence fiber sizes and fiber number, as well as enzyme histochemical fiber characteristics.

Full text links 

Read article at publisher's site: https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-510x(88)90132-3

References 

Articles referenced by this article (41)

Show 10 more references (10 of 41)

Citations & impact 

Impact metrics

1,079
Citations
Jump to Citations

Citations of article over time

Alternative metrics

Altmetric item for https://www.altmetric.com/details/1788807
Altmetric
Discover the attention surrounding your research
https://www.altmetric.com/details/1788807

Article citations

Go to all (1,079) article citations

Similar Articles 

To arrive at the top five similar articles we use a word-weighted algorithm to compare words from the Title and Abstract of each citation.