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Figure 1 | Longevity & Healthspan

Figure 1

From: Role of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha (PGC-1α) in denervation-induced atrophy in aged muscle: facts and hypotheses

Figure 1

Aging-related changes of the neuromuscular system: the central role of denervation. To illustrate the main aging-related changes of the neuromuscular system that identify denervation as a primary cause of sarcopenia, schematic representations of adult (A) and aged (B) neuromuscular systems are presented. Key features of neuromuscular aging, all indicative of denervation, are highlighted as follow: loss of motor neurons (normally located in lamina IX of the spinal cord; not represented for clarity purposes) (1), decrease in both axon number and diameter (2), fiber type grouping (3), increase in myosin heavy chain co-expression (4), and appearance of fragmented or denervated neuromuscular junctions (5). See main text for more details.

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Longevity & Healthspan

ISSN: 2046-2395