This technology is a composition for preventing and treating sarcopenia and muscle atrophy, and for promoting muscle growth, using an extract of the perennial herb Ajuga multiflora (Lamiaceae) as an active ingredient. It is formulated in three forms: pharmaceutical compositions, health functional foods, and feed compositions. The extract activates protein synthesis signaling in myotube cells, increasing muscle fiber thickness and fusion.
Muscle mass is maintained by the balance between protein synthesis and degradation. When degradation exceeds synthesis due to aging, prolonged muscle disuse, or diseases like cancer and diabetes, muscle strength declines, increasing the risk of falls, fractures, and metabolic disorders. While natural products like goldthread, ginseng, and black ginseng have been studied for inhibiting muscle atrophy, Ajuga multiflora has traditionally been used only for inflammatory diseases or bruises, with its effects on preventing muscle atrophy or promoting skeletal muscle cell differentiation and hypertrophy previously unknown.
This technology utilizes an alcohol extract of Ajuga multiflora to increase the expression of mTOR, p70S6K, and the muscle contractile protein MHC in myotube cells, while also increasing myotube diameter and the fusion index. It addresses various types of muscle atrophy, including age-related sarcopenia, disuse atrophy, denervation-induced atrophy, cachexia, and drug-induced atrophy. It can be applied to health functional foods for maintaining muscle strength in the elderly, supplements for patients with muscle loss due to long-term hospitalization or bed rest, and feed for pets and livestock, allowing for the development of pharmaceutical, food, and feed product lines from a single edible plant extract.
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.
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