Skeletal Muscle Aging: Lessons From Teleosts

Abstract

Aging is the greatest risk factor for a multitude of age-related diseases including sarcopenia - the loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength - which occurs at remarkable rates each year. There is an unmet need not only to understand the mechanisms that drive sarcopenia but also to identify novel therapeutic strategies. Given the ease and affordability of husbandry, along with advances in genomics, genome editing technologies, and imaging capabilities, teleost models are increasingly used for aging and sarcopenia research. Here, we explain how teleost species such as zebrafish, African turquoise killifish, and medaka recapitulate many of the classical hallmarks of sarcopenia, and discuss the various dietary, pharmacological, and genetic approaches that have been used in teleosts to understand the mechanistic basis of sarcopenia.