dysfunction of the neurmuscular junction is probably the most important type of muscle aging, much more so than cell loss
Good answer, but I disagree with this specifically. I spent a few days reading up on age-related NMJ dysfunction at one point, and my main takeaway is that it’s widely studied mainly because it produces cool images. I have not been able to find any evidence at all that NMJ problems cause age-related loss of muscle strength, despite the large amount of research poured into the subject. (If anyone knows of such evidence, I’d love a link to it.) My current best model is that age related NMJ remodelling is just a side effect of other damage/repair, and doesn’t have much functional impact other than making the junctions look a bit different when people image them.
Good answer, but I disagree with this specifically. I spent a few days reading up on age-related NMJ dysfunction at one point, and my main takeaway is that it’s widely studied mainly because it produces cool images. I have not been able to find any evidence at all that NMJ problems cause age-related loss of muscle strength, despite the large amount of research poured into the subject. (If anyone knows of such evidence, I’d love a link to it.) My current best model is that age related NMJ remodelling is just a side effect of other damage/repair, and doesn’t have much functional impact other than making the junctions look a bit different when people image them.