Effects and Mechanisms of Long-Term Lycium barbarum Water Consumption on Skeletal Muscle Function in Aged Mice

With the global aging population, skeletal muscle aging has threatened to elderly health, making dietary interventions for age-related muscle decline a research priority. Lycium barbarum, a traditional food and medicinal herb, was used in the study to prepare Lycium barbarum water (LBW). This experiment was conducted in animals and included four groups: young control (C-Young), aged control (C-Aged), young LBW-drinking (G-Young), and aged LBW-drinking (G-Aged). Assessments covered skeletal muscle mass, cross-sectional area, and exercise ability to compare health status. The study measured mRNA expression of Atrogin-1 and MuRF-1 from the Forkhead Box O (FOXO) pathway, advanced glycation end products (AGEs) and senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SA-β-gal), oxidative stress levels via superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione (GSH), inflammatory levels through interleukin-10 (IL-10) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and applied untargeted metabolomics to profile metabolic alterations. Optimal LBW was achieved at 80 °C with a 1:10 (w/v) solid-liquid ratio. In aged mice, long-term LBW administration improved exercise capacity, reduced muscle atrophy, and increased muscle mass, alongside decreased aging-related markers, alleviated oxidative stress, and modulated inflammatory levels. Additionally, metabolomics confirmed age-related oxidative stress and inflammation. Long-term LBW consumption alleviates age-related skeletal muscle dysfunction via multi-target regulation, holding promise as a natural nutritional intervention for mitigating skeletal muscle aging.