As people grow older skeletal muscle gradually becomes smaller and weaker, causing reduced mobility and quality of life. To understand and reverse this negative process investigators need to find new ways of improving the ability of muscle to perform physical activity. There is some evidence that supplements may improve how the mitochondria work, and investigators want to explore this idea in more detail. This is possible by measuring how the muscles work and respond to exercise before and after taking the supplement alongside an aerobic (i.e. cycling) and resistance (i.e. weight lifting) exercise programme. This will give us the basic information investigators would need to see if this is a useful idea.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
QUADRUPLE
Enrollment
2
Acipimox plus exercise training: Oral supplement containing Acipimox 250mgs as the active ingredient in blinded label tablet form.
Alternate unilateral resistance and aerobic exercise training will also be performed 5 times per week for 6 weeks.
NIHR Exeter Clinical Research Facility
Exeter, Devon, United Kingdom
Change in mitochondrial function
Mitochondria will be extracted from muscle samples immediately post-biopsy (biopsies taken baseline, week 3 and week 6) and analysed for content and subsequently for oxidative respiratory function using the Oroboros technique, and maximal rates of Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) production.
Time frame: Baseline, 3 weeks, 6 weeks
Chronic changes in habitual muscle protein synthetic rates
Baseline saliva samples then frequent saliva samples over 6 weeks following oral ingestion of the stable isotope deuterium oxide (D2O, or 'heavy water') will be analysed by gas-chromatography-pyrolysis-isotope ratio mass-spectrometry. analysis. Muscle samples collected at baseline, 3 weeks, 6 weeks will also be analysed by gas-chromatography-pyrolysis-isotope ratio mass-spectrometry
Time frame: Baseline, 3 weeks and 6 weeks
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