LAUSR

Muscle mass is important for health. Decreased testicular androgen production (hypogonadism) contributes to the loss of muscle mass, with loss of limb muscle being particularly debilitating. Androgen replacement is the only treatment, which may not be feasible for everyone. Prior work showed that markers of reactive oxygen species and markers of mitochondrial degradation pathways were higher in the limb muscle following castration. Therefore, we tested whether an antioxidant preserved limb muscle mass in male mice subjected to a castration surgery. Subsets of castrated mice was treated with resveratrol (a general antioxidant) or MitoQ (a mitochondria targeted antioxidant). Relative non-castrated control mice, lean mass, limb muscle mass, and grip strength were partially preserved only in the castrated mice treated with MitoQ. Independent of treatment, markers of mitochondrial degradation pathways remained elevated in all castrated mice regardless of treatment. Therefore, a mitochondrial targeted antioxidant may partially preserve limb muscle mass during hypogonadism.