This technology is a composition for preventing, improving, and treating skeletal muscle atrophy and sarcopenia, using an ethanol extract from the roots of the medicinal plant Stellaria dichotoma as an active ingredient. This extract contains five components—glucodicotomin B, dicotomin B, schaftoside, dicotomin A, and isoschaftoside—and can be formulated into pharmaceutical, food, or feed compositions.
Skeletal muscle mass decreases by approximately 8% every decade starting in one's 40s, with the rate of decline accelerating to 15% by the 70s. Muscle atrophy caused by aging, lack of exercise, cachexia, or chronic disease increases the risk of falls, fractures, and metabolic disorders. While natural products like coptis, ginseng, and black soybeans have been studied for muscle atrophy inhibition, the potential of Stellaria dichotoma, traditionally used as an antipyretic, to prevent or improve skeletal muscle atrophy was previously unknown.
This technology utilizes beta-carboline alkaloid dicotomins and flavonoid glycoside schaftosides found in Stellaria dichotoma ethanol extract to increase muscle fiber thickness and inhibit atrophy. The target conditions include not only sarcopenia but also disuse atrophy, denervation-induced atrophy, cachexia, drug-induced or nutritional deficiency-induced atrophy, and muscular dystrophy. It can be applied to health supplements for geriatric sarcopenia, muscle loss prevention for long-term bedridden or casted patients, and functional feed for senior pets, repurposing Stellaria dichotoma from a simple antipyretic into a low-side-effect muscle health ingredient.
This invention was developed with support from the Ministry of Science and ICT for the development of methods to identify compound combinations with equivalent efficacy representing the overall activity of natural products.
US2026-0158094A1, WO2024-258147A1
