Gerontology
-
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Serum Myostatin Levels Are Higher in Fitter, More Active, and Non-Frail Long-Term Nursing Home Residents and Increase after a Physical Exercise Intervention.
Myostatin has been proposed as a candidate biomarker for frailty and sarcopenia. However, the relationship of myostatin with these conditions remains inconclusive. ⋯ Higher serum levels of myostatin were found to be associated with better physical fitness. The improvements in physical fitness after the intervention were positively related to increases in myostatin concentrations in men. These results seem to rule out the idea that high serum myostatin levels are indicative of frailty in long-term nursing home residents. However, although the direction of association was opposite to that expected for the function of myostatin, the use of this protein as a biomarker for physical fitness, rather than frailty, merits further study.