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Prevention of sarcopenia by functional food factors through G protein-coupled receptors.

Description: Modulating β2-adrenergic receptor (β2-AR) expression and activation is important for maintaining skeletal muscle function. In this project, we identified food factors that are able to regulate β2-AR activity or expression and may improve skeletal muscle function. Using luciferase reporter assay, we screened 357 functional food factors as candidates for β2-AR promoter activity and subsequently confirmed that RSV and GEN increase β2-AR promoter activity and β2-AR mRNA expression. We also ascertained that transcription factor NF-YA binds to the CCAAT box on the β2-AR promoter and that the amount of NF-YA bound to the CCAAT box was unchanged by RSV or GEN treatment. Finally, we confirmed that a GEN-containing diet increased β2-AR expression in mouse skeletal muscle and increased skeletal muscle mass.Our findings show that food-derived molecules have the potential to influence skeletal muscle mass and function by regulating G protein-coupled receptor activity or expression.

Funder: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

Amount: ¥4,420,000

Funding type: fellowship

Funder scheme: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)

Start date: 2017-04-01

End date: 2019-03-31

Investigator: Miho Chikazawa

Institution: The University of Tokyo

Topic: Adipose Tissue and Metabolism

Subfield: Physiology

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences