Does the regulation of skeletal muscle influence cognitive function? A scoping review of pre-clinical evidence
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AbstractBackground
Cognitive impairment is a major challenge for elderlies, as it can progress in a rapid manner and effective treatments are limited. Sarcopenic elderlies have a higher risk of dementia. This scoping review aims to reveal whether muscle is a mediator of cognitive function from pre-clinical evidence.

Methods
PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science were searched to Feb 2nd, 2022, using the keywords (muscle) AND (cognition OR dementia OR Alzheimer) AND (mouse OR rat OR animal). The PRISMA guideline was used in this study.

Results
A total of 17 pre-clinical studies were selected from 7638 studies. 4 studies reported that muscle atrophy and injury harmed memory, functional factors, and neurons in the brain for rodents with or without Alzheimer's disease (AD). 3 studies observed exercise induced muscle to secrete factors, including lactate, fibronectin type III domain-containing protein 5 (FNDC5), and cathepsin B, which plays essential roles in the elevation of cognitive functions and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels. Muscle-targeted treatments including electrical stimulation and intramuscular injections had effective remote effects on the hippocampus. 6 studies showed that muscle-specific overexpression of scFv59 and Neprilysin, or myostatin knockdown alleviated AD symptoms. 1 study showed that muscle insulin resistance also led to deficient hippocampal neurogenesis in MKR mice.

Conclusions
The skeletal muscle is involved in the mediation of cognitive function. The evidence was established by the response in the brain (altered number of neurons, functional factors, and other AD pathological characteristics) with muscle atrophy or injury, muscle secretory factors, and muscle-targeted treatments.

The translational potential of this paper
This study summarizes the current evidence in how muscle affects cognition in molecular levels, which supports muscle-specific treatments as potential clinical strategies to prevent cognitive dysfunction.
Acceptance Date05/10/2022
All Author(s) ListLiu CR, Wong PY, Chow SKH, Cheung WH, Wong RMY
Journal nameJournal of Orthopaedic Translation
Year2023
Month1
Volume Number38
PublisherElsevier
Pages76 - 83
ISSN2214-031X
LanguagesEnglish-United Kingdom
KeywordsMuscle, Cognitive function, Brain, Animal model, Review
Web of Science Subject CategoriesOrthopedics;Orthopedics

Last updated on 2024-21-08 at 00:50