AgingResearch.NewsJoin free
Aging Cell

Low-dose ibuprofen improved muscle recovery in aged mice

In male mice about 25 months old, two days of ibuprofen after disuse improved muscle function without increasing muscle mass.

Paper by Paul-Emile Bourrant, Zachary J. Fennel, Elena M. Yee, +5 more authorsMicah John Drummond · Department of Nutrition and Integrative Physiology University of Utah Salt Lake City Utah USA
Graphical abstract from Aging Cell
Open the figure at full size
Graphical abstract. Bourrant et al., CC BY

Our read

Interventions
Studied:
Experiments in mice (Randomized, registered NCT04416191)

Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News

Paper
Follow @agingbrief

Male C57BL/6 mice about 4 or 25 months old underwent an experiment involving 14 days with their hindlimbs suspended, followed by up to seven days of normal movement. Older muscle showed sustained prostaglandin signaling, involving fat-derived chemical messengers. This was associated with more cellular senescence, a state in which cells stop dividing, more tissue scarring and poorer recovery.

Older mice were randomly assigned to ibuprofen injections at 30 or 60 milligrams per kilogram of body weight daily, or a control injection, for the first two recovery days. Ibuprofen suppresses this signaling pathway. The lower dose improved grip strength and muscle force without increasing muscle mass. The higher dose did not improve strength or force. Suppressing the pathway also reduced senescence markers and limited scarring.

Why it matters

Muscle recovery after inactivity declines with age, leaving lasting losses in strength and function. The authors suggest that adjusting this signaling pathway may help older individuals recover.

Caveats

The drug experiment used only male mice of one strain. It does not show whether suppressing this pathway would improve recovery in older people.

Where the evidence stands

Reloading

Mice: a single group. Cells, worms or flies and humans: nothing yet.

C, W, M, H: cells, worms or flies, mice, humans. Dark: independent labs found the same change there. Light: one lab or one study. Outline: nothing yet.

Labs are independent when their papers share no last author and no institution.

  • 4 independent labs in 2 countries
  • Funders: National Institute on Aging and others

Cellular senescence

Cells, worms or flies, mice and humans: replicated by independent labs.

C, W, M, H: cells, worms or flies, mice, humans. Dark: independent labs found the same change there. Light: one lab or one study. Outline: nothing yet.

Labs are independent when their papers share no last author and no institution.

Against: findings that point the other way from most findings on the same outcome.

No results posted: trials that ended over a year ago with no results on ClinicalTrials.gov and no paper reporting them.

Company ties: findings with an author at a company, or from a paper whose competing-interests statement declares ties to one.

Includes the processes named after it and trials of drugs aimed at it.

  • 867 independent labs in 75 countries
  • 522 findings against
  • 52 trials, 15 with no results posted
  • Funders: National Natural Science Foundation of China and others
  • 668 of 9,986 findings with company ties
  • 50 of 52 trials sponsored by developers of drugs aimed at it

Comments

Be the first to comment.

More on Cellular senescence