ArticleJournal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985)2016
Motor unit number and transmission stability in octogenarian world class athletes: Can age-related deficits be outrun?
Article in Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985), 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 41 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
41 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 96 citations in OpenAlex.
- Exploring motor unit and neuromuscular junction dysfunction in aging and sarcopenia: insights from electromyography in systematic review.GeroScience · 2026Pooled it
- Motor performance and aging in males and females.Journal of electromyography and kinesiology : official journal of the International Society of Electrophysiological Kinesiology · 2025Review
- The Neuromuscular Junction: A Shared Vulnerability in Aging and Disease.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025Review
- Review
- Aging Skeletal Muscles: What Are the Mechanisms of Age-Related Loss of Strength and Muscle Mass, and Can We Impede Its Development and Progression?International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Article
- Neuromuscular Dysfunction Precedes Cognitive Impairment in a Mouse Model of Alzheimer's Disease.Function (Oxford, England) · 2024Article
- The impact of life-long strength versus endurance training on muscle fiber morphology and phenotype composition in older men.Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985) · 2023Article
- Emergence and Progression of Behavioral Motor Deficits and Skeletal Muscle Atrophy across the Adult Lifespan of the Rat.Biology · 2023Article
- Motor unit dysregulation following 15 days of unilateral lower limb immobilisation.The Journal of physiology · 2022Article
- Circulating testosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone are associated with individual motor unit features in untrained and highly active older men.GeroScience · 2022Article
- Article
- Ageing and exercise-induced motor unit remodelling.The Journal of physiology · 2022Article
- State of Knowledge on Molecular Adaptations to Exercise in Humans: Historical Perspectives and Future Directions.Comprehensive Physiology · 2022Article
- Association between age and muscle function, architecture, and composition in long-distance master runners: a cross-sectional study.Brazilian journal of medical and biological research = Revista brasileira de pesquisas medicas e biologica · 2022Article
- Alterations in Muscle Force Control With Aging: Is There a Modulatory Effect of Lifelong Physical Activity?Frontiers in sports and active living · 2022Article
- Profiling age-related muscle weakness and wasting: neuromuscular junction transmission as a driver of age-related physical decline.GeroScience · 2021Article
- Voluntary wheel running with and without follistatin overexpression improves NMJ transmission but not motor unit loss in late life of C57BL/6J mice.Neurobiology of aging · 2021Article
- Sarcopenia: What Is the Origin of This Aging-Induced Disorder?Frontiers in genetics · 2021Review
- Emerging molecular mediators and targets for age-related skeletal muscle atrophy.Translational research : the journal of laboratory and clinical medicine · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 6 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Our group has shown a greater number of functioning motor units (MU) in a cohort of highly active older (∼65 yr) masters runners relative to age-matched controls. Because of the precipitous loss in the number of functioning MUs in the eighth and ninth decades of life it is unknown whether older world class octogenarian masters athletes (MA) would also have greater numbers of functioning MUs compared with age-matched controls. We measured MU numbers and neuromuscular transmission stability in the tibialis anterior of world champion MAs (∼80 yr) and compared the values with healthy age-matched controls (∼80 yr). Decomposition-enhanced spike-triggered averaging was used to collect surface and intramuscular electromyography signals during dorsiflexion at ∼25% of maximum voluntary isometric contraction. Near fiber (NF) MU potential analysis was used to assess neuromuscular transmission stability. For the MAs compared with age-matched controls, the amount of excitable muscle mass (compound muscle action potential) was 14% greater (P < 0.05), there was a trend (P = 0.07) toward a 27% smaller surface-detected MU potential representative of less collateral reinnervation, and 28% more functioning MUs (P < 0.05). Additionally, the MAs had greater MU neuromuscular stability than the controls, as indicated by lower NF jitter and jiggle values (P < 0.05). These results demonstrate that high-performing octogenarians better maintain neuromuscular stability of the MU and mitigate the loss of MUs associated with aging well into the later decades of life during which time the loss of muscle mass and strength becomes functionally relevant. Future studies may identify the concomitant roles genetics and exercise play in neuroprotection.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.