Longevity & AgingSenescent cells across the muscle niche drive sarcopenia, and senotherapies may offer a way to reverse it
Muscle loss with age, called sarcopenia, drives frailty, falls and early death. This review explains that aging muscle accumulates senescent cells. These are damaged cells that stop dividing but keep releasing inflammatory signals that harm their neighbors. They turn up in muscle stem cells, supportive connective-tissue cells called fibro-adipogenic progenitors, immune cells, blood vessel cells, and even mature muscle fibers. Newer single-cell technologies show each cell type becomes senescent through different molecular routes. The authors then discuss senotherapies. Senolytics kill senescent cells, and senomorphics quiet their harmful secretions. In aged mice, the senolytic ABT263 cleared senescent cells and improved the function of muscle stem cells. Human evidence is still lacking, so these remain promising ideas, not proven treatments.
