Estrogenic Effects on Aged Muscle

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The immediate career goal of this candidate is to expedite the research being conducted in her recently- awarded R01 (AG AG031743). This research is focused on the interactive effects of aging and estradiol on skeletal muscle and myosin functions. The long-term career goals of this candidate are to elucidate the overall mechanisms underlying age- and hormone-related skeletal muscle functional losses and to utilize this knowledge to devise optimal strategies for preventing, reversing, or at least slowing the progression of muscle weakness that occurs with age. These goals will be facilitated by a K02 award as a result of the candidate being relieved of many teaching and service-related faculty responsibilities, thus allowing her to intensively focus on research. The environment for the candidate to be successful in attaining these goals is exceptional. Senior, well-established investigators involved with the Center on Aging, The Muscular Dystrophy Center, and the Powell Center for Women's Health provide a network of excellence at the University of Minnesota in areas of biological aging, muscle, and women's health issues, respectively. A K02 award will afford the candidate time to become more engaged in activities sponsored by these Centers which will complement and advance her research program. In addition, as this new investigator is building her research team, relief time provided by a K02 award will be utilized to enhance the training she can offer to post-doctoral fellows and graduate and undergraduate students in her laboratory, expand current and establish new collaborations, and submit additional grant applications. The overall objective of the research that will be conducted during this award is to determine hormone-mediated mechanisms that contribute to muscle strength loss in aged females. Strength losses in females are likely related to changes in ovarian hormones in addition to aging, but mechanistic effects of these hormones on skeletal muscle have not been elucidated. Thus, the first aim of the research is to determine the extent to which estradiol treatment improves myosin function and muscle strength in ovarian- failed, aged mice. The second aim is to show that estradiol is beneficial to myosin and muscle strength independent of physical activity. The third aim of the research is to test the hypothesis that the beneficial effects of estradiol on myosin and muscle function are mediated by estrogen receptors which regulate oxidative stress-related genes. At the conclusion of this K02 award, the candidate expects to have established her research team as the leader in the area of aging and hormonal effects on muscle structure and function and to have contributed significantly to our understanding of estradiol deficiency in age-related muscle weakness. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Aging and loss of estrogen result in muscle weakness that impacts the quality of life of older adults. The applicant will conduct research to determine how estradiol treatment can benefit estrogen-deficient females by improving muscle strength.