Sarcopenia is associated with altered adaptive responses to exercise in aging skeletal muscle. Exercise activates the unfolded protein response (UPR).

A study was conducted to determine age-related changes in transcriptional markers of UPR activation following a single bout of resistance exercise in 12 young (27 ± 5yrs) and 12 older (75 ± 5yrs) healthy men and women.

Following exercise, there was attenuation of transcriptional markers of UPR pathway activation in older adults compared to young. Older adults had less clear coordination of post-exercise transcriptional patterns between the UPR pathway, p53/p21 axis of autophagy, and satellite cell differentiation as compared to young adults.

Clearly, there was an age-related fall in the adaptive UPR transcriptional response after a single bout of exercisethat could potentially contribute to impaired responses to exercise with age.

Source: Hart CR, Ryan ZC, Pfaffenbach KT, et al.Attenuated activation of the unfolded protein response following exercise in skeletal muscle of older adults.Aging (Albany NY). 2019 Sep 14;11.