Cellular and Molecular Biology
Open Access

Review Article

Lipid-Based Therapeutic Strategies for Sarcopenic and Dystrophic Muscular Impairments

Copyright: © 2015  . This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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The ability to perform muscular work is critical for maintaining health and performing activities of daily living. However, numerous individuals are afflicted by pathologies that limit strength or endurance, such as sarcopenia of aging or muscular dystrophy. These pathologies can be associated with increased mortality risk and shortened lifespan; therefore, improved therapies are needed for treating disorders of skeletal muscle and those that generally affect physical function. Esterified and non-esterified lipids within muscle and other cell types exert metabolic and structural effects that alter biochemistry and physiological functions. Importantly, the composition of dietary fat impacts the variety of fatty acids [FAs] in tissue lipids. In this report, recent discoveries on the effects of dietary FA composition are discussed for pathologies related to skeletal muscle and physical work capacity, with the focus placed upon muscular dystrophy and sarcopenia of aging. Potential effects of n-9 monounsaturated FAs [MUFAs], n-3 polyunsaturated FAs [PUFAs], n-6 PUFAs, and trans-FAs [TFAs] are discussed. Potential benefits of MUFA and discordant findings for n-3 PUFA in muscular dystrophy are discussed, as well as the detriments of TFA and benefits of n-3 PUFA in sarcopenia. Other observations and inferences are considered, and areas for future work are identified.