Skip to content
University of Maryland LibrariesDigital Repository at the University of Maryland
    • Login
    View Item 
    •   DRUM
    • Theses and Dissertations from UMD
    • UMD Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    •   DRUM
    • Theses and Dissertations from UMD
    • UMD Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Myostatin Related Gene Associations with Muscle Mass and Strength in Humans.

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    umi-umd-3610.pdf (582.6Kb)
    No. of downloads: 2057

    Date
    2006-07-14
    Author
    Walsh, Sean
    Advisor
    Roth, Stephen M
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    INTRODUCTION: The gradual decline in muscle mass with age is known as sarcopenia, and has been associated with an increased risk of falls, hip fractures, and functional decline. However, there is large inter-individual variability in this decline, even among people of a similar age and sex. Heritability studies have shown that genetic factors can account for up to 90% of this variation in muscle mass and ~65% in muscle strength. Myostatin is a negative regulator of skeletal muscle and plays a key role in muscle development and the maintenance of muscle mass. However, DNA sequence variation within this gene has not been consistently associated with skeletal muscle mass nor muscle strength in humans. PURPOSE: The purpose of this dissertation was to examine genetic variation in follistatin and Activin RIIB (ACVR2B), two myostatin related genes, to explore associations with skeletal muscle related phenotypes. METHODS: Three hundred fifteen Caucasian males and 278 Caucasian females aged 19-90 years from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging were genotyped to determine respective haplotype groupings. Whole-body soft tissue composition was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Peak torque (strength) was measured using an isokinetic dynamometer. RESULTS: Women heterozygous for ACVR2B haplotype groups 1 and 2 exhibited significantly less concentric quadriceps muscle strength than women homozygous for haplotype group 2 (108.7 ± 2.2 vs 118.6 ± 4.1 Nm, .52rad/sec, respectively, p <0.05). No significant association was observed in men. However, men homozygous for follistatin haplotype group 1 exhibited significantly greater total leg FFM than men heterozygous for follistatin haplotype groups 1 and 3 (17.8 ± 0.2 vs 16.7 ± 0.4 kg, respectively, p <0.05) and significantly greater total leg FFM than non-carriers of follistatin haplotype group 1 (17.8 ± 0.2 vs 16.5 ± 0.5 kg, respectively, p <0.05). Moreover, male carriers of follistatin haplotype group 3 exhibited significantly less total leg FFM than non-carriers (16.6 ± 0.3 vs 17.5 ± 0.2 kg, respectively, p <0.05). No significant associations between these groups were observed in women. CONCLUSIONS: The data indicate that the ACVR2B and follistatin loci may contribute to the inter-individual variation in skeletal muscle mass and strength.
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/1903/3771
    Collections
    • Kinesiology Theses and Dissertations
    • UMD Theses and Dissertations

    DRUM is brought to you by the University of Maryland Libraries
    University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-7011 (301)314-1328.
    Please send us your comments.
    Web Accessibility
     

     

    Browse

    All of DRUMCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

    My Account

    LoginRegister
    Pages
    About DRUMAbout Download Statistics

    DRUM is brought to you by the University of Maryland Libraries
    University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-7011 (301)314-1328.
    Please send us your comments.
    Web Accessibility