Abstract
Objective
Protein supplementation increases gains in lean body mass following prolonged resistance-type
exercise training in frail older adults. We assessed whether the greater increase
in lean body mass can be attributed to muscle fiber type specific hypertrophy with
concomitant changes in satellite cell (SC) content.
Design
A total of 34 frail elderly individuals (77 ± 1 years, n = 12 male adults) participated
in this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial with 2 arms in parallel.
Intervention
Participants performed 24 weeks of progressive resistance-type exercise training (2
sessions per week) during which they were supplemented twice-daily with milk protein
(2 × 15 g) or a placebo.
Methods
Muscle biopsies were taken at baseline, and after 12 and 24 weeks of intervention,
to determine type I and type II muscle fiber specific cross-sectional area (CSA),
SC content, and myocellular characteristics.
Results
In the placebo group, a trend for a 20% ± 11% increase in muscle fiber CSA was observed
in type II fibers only (P = .051), with no increase in type I muscle fiber CSA. In the protein group, type
I and II muscle fiber CSA increased by 23% ± 7% and 34% ± 10% following 6 months of
training, respectively (P < .01). Myonuclear domain size increased over time in both groups and fiber types
(P < .001), with no significant differences between groups (P > .05). No changes in myonuclear content and SC contents were observed over time
in either group (both P > .05). Regression analysis showed that changes in myonuclear content and domain
size are predictive of muscle fiber hypertrophy.
Conclusions
Protein supplementation augments muscle fiber hypertrophy following prolonged resistance-type
exercise training in frail older people, without changes in myonuclear and SC content.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 01, 2017
Footnotes
The project is partly funded by TI Food and Nutrition, a public-private partnership on precompetitive research in food and nutrition. The researchers are responsible for the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, and preparation of the manuscript. The industrial partners have contributed to the project through regular discussion.
Clinical trial registration: NCT01110369.
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Identification
Copyright
© 2017 AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine.
