The composition of the gut microbiome changes in detrimental ways with age, leading to increased production of inflammatory metabolites and reduced production of beneficial metabolites. There is ample evidence for this to contribute to aspects of aging. Rejuvenation of the composition of the gut microbiome via various approaches has been shown in animal studies to improve health and extend life span. A human trial has started for fecal microbiota transplantation from young donors to old patients, but it will take a few years for data to be published. The study noted here describes a quite different approach to the problem, which is the use of ultrasound to bias the gut microbiome composition; it used only a small number of mice, and it is entirely unclear as to how ultrasound might produce this outcome. So: interesting, but more research needed.
This study employed a natural ageing mouse model to investigate whether noninvasive low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS), a therapeutic ultrasound, delivered to the abdomen, could alleviate age-related muscle deterioration and whether its effects were linked to gut microbiota modulation. C57BL/6 mice were maintained until 92 weeks of age, after which abdominal LIPUS stimulation was administered for 8 weeks. At 100 weeks, both forelimb and hind limb grip strength were assessed prior to euthanasia.
Naturally aged mice exhibited sarcopenia-like characteristics, including impaired muscle performance, reduced myofiber diameter and decreased muscle weight (n = 6). Age-related renal impairment promoted the accumulation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) in skeletal muscle, triggering pro-inflammatory signalling cascades characterized by elevated COX-2, phosphorylated NF-κB, NLRP3, IL-1β, and Caspase-1 (n = 5-6). LIPUS treatment significantly improved muscle strength (forelimb and hind limb grip strength, n = 6) and muscle mass (n = 6), while suppressing inflammatory mediators (n = 5-6).
Gut microbiota analysis showed that LIPUS increased microbial diversity (n = 5-6) and altered taxonomic composition, enriching anti-inflammatory taxa such as Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, Faecalibaculum and Coriobacteriaceae_UCG_002 (n = 6). Correlation analysis indicated that these LIPUS-enriched taxa were positively associated with enhanced muscle performance. These data suggest that LIPUS mitigates sarcopenia in naturally aged mice by restoring muscle integrity and attenuating inflammation, possibly via gut microbiota regulation.
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