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REVIEW article

Front. Mol. Biosci.

Sec. Molecular Diagnostics and Therapeutics

Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmolb.2025.1558456

This article is part of the Research Topic The Role of Calcium Channels in Human Health and Disease Volume III View all 7 articles

Effects of aging on calcium channels in skeletal muscle

Provisionally accepted
  • 1 Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences and School of Agricultural Sciences, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
  • 2 Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    In skeletal muscle, calcium is not only essential to stimulate and sustain their contractions but also for muscle embryogenesis, regeneration, energy production in mitochondria, and fusion. Different ion channels contribute to achieving the various functions of calcium in skeletal muscles. Muscle contraction is initiated by releasing calcium from the sarcoplasmic reticulum through the ryanodine receptor channels gated mechanically by four dihydropyridine receptors of T-tubules. The calcium influx through store-operated calcium channels sustains the contraction and stimulates muscle regeneration. Mitochondrial calcium uniporter allows the calcium entry into mitochondria to stimulate oxidative phosphorylation. Aging alters the expression and activity of these different calcium channels, resulting in a reduction of skeletal muscle force generation and regeneration capacity. Regular physical training and bioactive molecules from nutrients can prevent the effects of aging on calcium channels. This review focuses on the current knowledge of the effects of aging on skeletal muscles’ calcium channels.

    Keywords: Calcium, skeletal muscle, Aging, Ion Channels, Sarcopenia

    Received: 10 Jan 2025; Accepted: 27 Feb 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Dong and Maturana. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Andres Daniel Maturana, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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