Xiaolei Zhou, Shiyin Xu, Zixuan Zhang, Mingmeng Tang, Zitong Meng, Zhao Peng, Yuxiao Liao, Xuefeng Yang, Andreas K Nüssler, Liegang Liu, Wei Yang
Author Information
Xiaolei Zhou: Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, Hubei Key Laboratory of Food Nutrition and Safety, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hangkong Road 13, Wuhan, 430030, China.
Shiyin Xu: Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, Hubei Key Laboratory of Food Nutrition and Safety, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hangkong Road 13, Wuhan, 430030, China.
Zixuan Zhang: Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, Hubei Key Laboratory of Food Nutrition and Safety, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hangkong Road 13, Wuhan, 430030, China.
Mingmeng Tang: Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, Hubei Key Laboratory of Food Nutrition and Safety, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hangkong Road 13, Wuhan, 430030, China.
Zitong Meng: Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, Hubei Key Laboratory of Food Nutrition and Safety, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hangkong Road 13, Wuhan, 430030, China.
Zhao Peng: Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, Hubei Key Laboratory of Food Nutrition and Safety, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hangkong Road 13, Wuhan, 430030, China.
Yuxiao Liao: Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, Hubei Key Laboratory of Food Nutrition and Safety, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hangkong Road 13, Wuhan, 430030, China.
Xuefeng Yang: Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, Hubei Key Laboratory of Food Nutrition and Safety, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hangkong Road 13, Wuhan, 430030, China.
Andreas K Nüssler: Department of Traumatology, BG Trauma Center, University of Tübingen, Schnarrenbergstr. 95, 72076, Tübingen, Germany.
Liegang Liu: Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, Hubei Key Laboratory of Food Nutrition and Safety, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hangkong Road 13, Wuhan, 430030, China.
Wei Yang: Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, Hubei Key Laboratory of Food Nutrition and Safety, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hangkong Road 13, Wuhan, 430030, China. yw8278@hotmail.com.
With the increasing trend of global aging, sarcopenia has become a significant public health issue. Goji berry, also known as "Gou qi zi" in China, is a traditional Chinese herb that can enhance the structure and function of muscles and bones. Otherwise, previous excellent publications illustrated that plant-derived exosome-like nanoparticles can exert good bioactive functions in different aging or disease models. Thus, we issued the hypothesis that Gouqi-derived nanovesicles (GqDNVs) may also have the ability to improve skeletal muscle health, though the effect and its mechanism need to be explored. Hence, we have extracted GqDNVs from fresh berries of Lycium barbarum L. (goji) and found that the contents of GqDNVs are rich in saccharides and lipids. Based on the pathway annotations and predictions in non-targeted metabolome analysis, GqDNVs are tightly associated with the pathways in metabolism. In muscle atrophy model mice, intramuscular injection of GqDNVs improves the cross-sectional area of the quadriceps muscle, grip strength and the AMPK/SIRT1/PGC1α pathway expression. After separately inhibiting AMPK or PGC1α in C2C12 cells with dexamethasone administration, we have found that the activated AMPK plays the chief role in improving cell proliferation induced by GqDNVs. Furthermore, the energy-targeted metabolome analysis in the quadriceps muscle demonstrates that the GqDNVs up-regulate the metabolism of amino sugar and nucleotide sugar, autophagy and oxidative phosphorylation process, which indicates the activation of muscle regeneration. Besides, the Spearman rank analysis shows close associations between the quality and function of skeletal muscle, metabolites and expression levels of AMPK and SIRT1. In this study, we provide a new founding that GqDNVs can improve the quality and function of skeletal muscle accompanying the activated AMPK/SIRT1/PGC1α signaling pathway. Therefore, GqDNVs have the effect of anti-aging skeletal muscle as a potential adjuvant or complementary method or idea in future therapy and research.
