Magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) shows significant reduction of thigh muscle stiffness in healthy older adults

Abstract

Determining the effect of ageing on thigh muscle stiffness using magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) and investigate whether fat fraction and muscle cross-sectional area (CSA) are related to stiffness. Six healthy older adults in their eighth and ninth decade and eight healthy young men were recruited and underwent a 3 T MRI protocol including MRE and Dixon fat fraction imaging. Muscle stiffness, fat fraction and muscle CSA were calculated in ROIs corresponding to the four quadriceps muscles (i.e. vastus lateralis (VL), vastus medialis (VM), vastus intermedius (VI), rectus femoris (RF)), combined quadriceps, combined hamstrings and adductors and whole thigh. Muscle stiffness was significantly reduced (p < 0.05) in the older group in all measured ROIs except the VI (p = 0.573) and RF (p = 0.081). Similarly, mean fat fraction was significantly increased

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“…The results of a previous study by Tomlinson et al relating to increased adiposity and muscle stiffness among overweight individuals compared with normal or underweight individuals corroborate our findings [ 33 ]. Groups C and D have higher BMI; thus, the presence of higher fat infiltration [ 34 ] and higher SMM might be the cause of decrease in stiffness in these two groups. Moreover, in the earlier study, weight lifting causes decreased SMM [ 35 ].…”

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“…However, iron metabolism is not the only player affecting muscle performance. Due to the complexity of muscle physiology, other factors can have a decisive influence on skeletal muscle, such as age, lipotoxicity, muscle stiffness, and the role of caloric restriction in muscle health [ 54 , 55 , 56 ]. In this way, sarcopenia is the age-associated loss of muscle mass and function.…”

“…Aging is a physiological process involving biochemical and morphological changes that are affected throughout the muscle [ 54 ]. These biological aging processes include reduced regenerative capacity by stem cell exhaustion, cellular senescence, increased pro-inflammatory intercellular signaling, insulin resistance, lipotoxicity, dysregulated nutrient sensing, mitochondrial dysfunction and increased oxidative stress [ 54 , 56 ]. This damage is associated with inflammation, protein catabolism, myocyte apoptosis, alteration of functional capacity, muscle atrophy, increase muscle stiffness, and, therefore, decreased muscle performance [ 56 ].…”

“…Moreover, histopathological muscle changes as a result of the pathways triggered by sarcopenia, which affect muscle performance, are changes in muscle fiber size and number, causing mass muscle reduction with age and selective atrophy of muscle fibers [ 54 , 56 ]. In addition, another factor to consider in performance and muscle function is caloric restriction (CR) [ 55 ].…”

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“…Another emerging technology is MR elastography (MRE). MRE "measures tissue stiffness by encoding displacements due to the propagation of externally induced acoustic waves into the MR phase signal" [5]. The inherent tissue stiffness affects the speed of the wave propagation, with stiffer tissue inducing faster wave speed.…”