Study record
Muscle-Targeted Nanocomposite Therapy Alleviates Age-Related Sarcopenia via Antioxidant and Metabolic Reprogramming
Liu Z, Shen Z, Lu H et al. · ACS Nano · 2026
What this study reported
Reported that a muscle-targeted nanocomposite combining MOTS-c with black phosphorus nanosheets was associated with less muscle loss and dysfunction in aged mice and in cultured muscle cells with age-related sarcopenia. Found accompanying normalisation of mitochondrial function and lower lipid peroxidation in the same models. Reported RNA-seq evidence of activated PI3K/AKT/Nrf2 signalling and suppressed ROS/p38 MAPK signalling, and described biocompatibility results in toxicity assays.
Limitations
Single mouse strain and males only, group sizes not reported in the abstract, effects attributed to a composite construct without a MOTS-c-only comparison arm described, and surrogate mitochondrial and signalling endpoints.
Study record
| Study model | Animal study (in vivo) |
|---|---|
| Substance studied | MOTS-c administeredSynthetic MOTS-c was given to cells, animals or people. |
| Species | mouse, human |
| System studied | Aged C57BL/6 mice with sarcopenia and cultured muscle cells exposed to a MOTS-c/black phosphorus nanocomposite (BP-PEG-MOTS-c) |
| Population | Not reported |
| Design | Controlled animal and cell culture experiments with bioinformatics analysis |
| Sample size as reported | Not reported |
| Control group | untreated aged mice and conventional delivery systems |
| Route (data field only) | Not reported |
| Endpoints measured | muscle mass and function; mitochondrial function; lipid peroxidation and reactive oxygen species; PI3K/AKT/Nrf2 and ROS/p38 MAPK signalling; RNA-seq transcriptional profile; biocompatibility in toxicity assays |
| Pathways measured | AKT / mTOR / FOXO · NRF2 / antioxidant response · MAPK signalling · Oxidative stress |
| Research areas | Skeletal muscle · Aging · Mitochondrial biology |
| Evidence tier | C — Animal in vivo |
| Publication types | Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't |
Appraisal
Each dimension is recorded separately and never combined into a single score. A study can be well controlled and still tell you little about people.
- Relevance to MOTS-c
- Indirect
- Model applicability
- Mammalian
- Sample size
- Not reported
- Controls
- Limited
- Outcome validity
- Surrogate
- Support for its own conclusion
- Moderate
Provenance
- Bibliographic fields retrieved from PubMed E-utilities efetch (title, journal, date, authors, DOI) on 2026-11-11.
- Annotated from the published abstract.
- Editorial review: approved (2026-11-11).
- Classification follows the site methodology; the record describes the study, not what MOTS-c does in people.