title: Age-dependent changes cooperatively impact skeletal muscle regeneration after compartment syndrome injury.
abstract: Declining skeletal muscle function, due to injury and aging (sarcopenia), results in a significantly decreased quality of life and is a major cause of disability in the United States. Studies examining recovery from muscle injury in models of older animals principally used insults that primarily affect only the myofibers without affecting the muscle tissue microenvironment. This type of injury does not adequately represent the full extent of tissue damage observed in older humans, which encompasses injury not only to the muscle fibers, but also to the surrounding tissue components, such as the vasculature and nerves. Previously, we described a novel rat model of compression-induced muscle injury that results in multicomponent injury to the muscle and adequately mimics compartment syndrome injuries seen in patients. Herein, we characterized tissue regeneration in young, adult, and aged rats after compartment syndrome injury. We observed significant differences between the regeneration process in the different aged rats that involved muscle function, tissue anatomical features, neovascularization, and innervation. Compared to young rats, adult rats had delayed functional recovery, whereas the aged rats were deficient in their regenerative capacity. Age-dependent changes in both the ability to restore the contractile apparatus and myogenesis are important, and must be taken into consideration when designing therapies for the treatment of muscle injury.
authors.affiliation: Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lovell
authors.affiliation: Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
authors.forename: Maigen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bethea
authors.affiliation: Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
authors.forename: Zhan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
authors.forename: George J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Christ
authors.affiliation: Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
authors.forename: Shay
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Soker
authors.affiliation: Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Electronic address: tcriswel@wakehealth.edu.
authors.forename: Tracy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Criswell
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D003161:Compartment Syndromes / Q000150:complications*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D008297:Male; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000293:injuries* / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D011917:Rats, Inbred Lew; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000502:physiology*; D012038:Regeneration / Q000502:physiology*