Experiencing traumatic experiences as a child can impair muscle function as you age.
- A University of Michigan study showed that traumatic experiences during childhood can impact muscle health later in life.
- 45% of participants admitted to having suffered one or more adverse events during their childhood. The latter had a lower maximum ATP production than the others.
- However, this reduced muscle function can contribute to a series of problems, notably the physical abilities of older people.
Traumatic childhood experiences mark the flesh, and more specifically the muscles, according to a study from the University of Michigan. It showed that people who experienced shocking events in their childhood had lower muscle metabolism later in life.
The American work was published in the journal Science Advances.
Childhood trauma impacts muscle function
For this research, scientists analyzed muscle tissue samples from 879 participants over the age of 70 as well as their responses to a questionnaire on their physical and cognitive health, but also on their personal lives. Among the questions asked were, for example: “Has an adult or relative in your household insulted or belittled you?”, “Have you been physically attacked by a loved one?”, “Have you felt loved, important or special in your family?”, “Have one of your parents been absent for part of your life?”.
When examining the muscle biopsies, the team mainly focused on the production of adenosine triphosphates (ATP: a molecule produced in cells called mitochondria and which allows muscles to contract) and on the phosphorylation process. oxidative (which helps produce ATP).
Analyzes of the various data showed that approximately 45% of participants had suffered one or more adverse events during childhood. Another key finding: Men and women who reported trauma during their younger years had lower peak ATP production than others. That is, they did not produce as much ATP as people who had few or no adverse events in childhood.
“What these results suggest is that these formative early childhood experiences have the ability to penetrate beneath the skin and influence skeletal muscle mitochondria, which is important because mitochondrial function is linked to a multitude of of results linked to aging”explains lead author Kate Duchowny in a communicated. “If your mitochondrial function is compromised, this does not bode well for a range of health problems, including chronic diseases, physical functions and disability-related limitations.”
Better understanding of the impact of early social stress
For his part, co-author Anthony Molina, professor of medicine at the University of California, San Diego, examined images of participants’ muscles taken during exercise and at rest using an MRI. He was able to determine the rate of ATP synthesis by looking at how quickly muscle was able to synthesize the molecule after being exhausted from exercise.
Additionally, his team studied rates of oxygen consumption in the muscle fiber bundle during muscle tissue biopsies. “You can think of the rate of oxygen consumption as a way of measuring the flow of electrons that pass through the electron transport train, and it is these electrons that generate the membrane potential that drives the synthesis of ATP.”specifies the expert. “This is a very precise way to assess the bioenergetic capacity of mitochondria.” These measures are also known to be closely linked to the physical capacities of older people.
Analysis of all the evidence collected confirmed that adverse events during childhood affect muscle health as a person ages. The effects remained significant even after taking into account other factors likely to impact muscle function such as age, gender, education level, BMI, smoking and physical activity.
This discovery could help understand how early social stress influences health later in life, the authors say.
