ReviewThe Journal of physiology2022
Single muscle fibre contractile function with ageing.
Review in The Journal of physiology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 47 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
47 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Sex differences in human skeletal muscle fiber types and the influence of age, physical activity, and muscle group: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Physiological reports · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of age on human skeletal muscle: a systematic review and meta-analysis of myosin heavy chain isoform protein expression, fiber size, and distribution.American journal of physiology. Cell physiology · 2024Pooled it
- Low-load blood flow-restricted resistance exercise produces fiber type-independent hypertrophy and improves muscle functional capacity in older individuals.Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985) · 2023Trial
- Six weeks of high-intensity interval training improve autonomic and metabolic responses in active postmenopausal women.Experimental physiology · 2026Article
- Recent advances in understanding skeletal muscle ageing: Functional, morphological and omics perspectives.Experimental physiology · 2026Review
- Mechanisms underlying age-related changes in the human skeletal muscle bioenergetic system.European journal of applied physiology · 2026Article
- Review
- Tissue-specific body composition changes and muscle performance decline: a 5-year prospective study.Aging clinical and experimental research · 2026Article
- Three-dimensional imaging reveals preserved intrinsic contractile function in aging human skeletal muscle fibers.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- A High-Fat/High-Sugar Diet Is Associated with Reduced Motor Unit Number and Neuromuscular Dysfunction in Late-Middle-Aged Female Rats: A Pilot Study.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- The other half of the sprinting coin: the neuromuscular profile of a 91-yr-old female world record sprinter.Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985) · 2026Article
- One half of the sprinting coin: the oxygen transport cascade of a 91-yr-old female world-record sprinter.Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985) · 2026Article
- Sex-specific effects of fatiguing exercise on skeletal muscle passive mechanics are preserved in aging.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Automated CT-Based Muscle Density Predicts Mortality Regardless of Muscle Area.Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle · 2026Article
- Myonuclear loss, rather than senescent myonuclei, associates with fiber type-specific atrophy in aging human skeletal muscle.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- On the concept of 'mild motor impairment': A neuromotor harbinger of sarcopenia and frailty?The Journal of physiology · 2026Article
- Effects of acidosis and inorganic phosphate on CaAmerican journal of physiology. Cell physiology · 2026Article
- Exercise attenuates stress-related signaling as sensed by higher phosphorylation of small heat shock proteins in skeletal muscle from older individuals.Journal of sport and health science · 2025Article
- Motor performance and aging in males and females.Journal of electromyography and kinesiology : official journal of the International Society of Electrophysiological Kinesiology · 2025Review
- The independent effects of age and sex in performance fatigability profile after a ramp incremental cycling test.European journal of applied physiology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Ageing is accompanied by decrements in the size and function of skeletal muscle that compromise independence and quality of life in older adults. Developing therapeutic strategies to ameliorate these changes is critical but requires an in-depth mechanistic understanding of the underlying physiology. Over the past 25 years, studies on the contractile mechanics of isolated human muscle fibres have been instrumental in facilitating our understanding of the cellular mechanisms contributing to age-related skeletal muscle dysfunction. The purpose of this review is to characterize the changes that occur in single muscle fibre size and contractile function with ageing and identify key areas for future research. Surprisingly, most studies observe that the size and contractile function of fibres expressing slow myosin heavy chain (MHC) I are well-preserved with ageing. In contrast, there are profound age-related decrements in the size and contractile function of the fibres expressing the MHC II isoforms. Notably, lifelong aerobic exercise training is unable to prevent most of the decrements in fast fibre contractile function, which have been implicated as a primary mechanism for the age-related loss in whole-muscle power output. These findings reveal a critical need to investigate the effectiveness of other nutritional, pharmaceutical or exercise strategies, such as lifelong resistance training, to preserve fast fibre size and function with ageing. Moreover, integrating single fibre contractile mechanics with the molecular profile and other parameters important to contractile function (e.g. phosphorylation of regulatory proteins, innervation status, mitochondrial function, fibre economy) is necessary to comprehensively understand the ageing skeletal muscle phenotype.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.