黃惠珮陳霈霓Hui-Pei HuangPei-Ni Chen楊硯羽Yen-Yu Yang醫學研究所2026-10-292025-08-312022https://handle.ncl.edu.tw/11296/3vaw98https://scholars.csmu.edu.tw/handle/123456789/36682根據台灣內政部統計，在2018年65歲以上老年人口已達14%，成為高齡社會，並預估將在2025年老年人口將達20%，進入超高齡社會。65歲以上的人會因為老化引起多重慢性病，導致器官功能不佳、活動力下降、發炎因子的上升或是體內抗氧化機制衰退，這些因素都會使肌肉萎縮且質量快速減少進而罹患肌少症，而被診斷為肌少症的患者預期壽命會下降，因此肌少症成為不可忽視的疾病。左旋肉鹼（L-carnitine）是一種體內可以幫助長鏈脂肪酸代謝產能的物質，當L-carnitine搭配有效運動時，會有增強肌耐力的效果，因此常常被運動員或是健身者當作保健食品，其它文獻也證實L-carnitine可以改善肌肉萎縮、抗發炎及降低氧化壓力。嘉寶果又稱樹葡萄，全果富含多種營養物質，本實驗室在先前的研究已經證實了嘉寶果多酚萃取物（Myrciaria cauliflora polyphenol extract, MCPE）可以透過抗發炎與降低氧化壓力進而改善糖尿病腎病變，還有降血脂及改善肥胖的功效。現今社會中，有許多忙於工作或課業而缺乏時間運動的族群，如果只攝取L-carnitine要增強肌肉質量或肌耐力來預防肌少症的效果並不大，因此本研究先在L6大鼠骨骼肌肉細胞中加入L-carnitine和MCPE，對細胞產生保護作用後，再加入腫瘤壞死因子-α（Tumor necrosis factor-α, TNF-α）引起細胞萎縮及損傷，觀察MCPE是否能有效輔助L-carnitine預防發炎引起之細胞傷害並探討其相關機制。實驗結果顯示，TNF-α造成細胞存活率下降，而受到L-carnitine及MCPE保護的細胞能顯著減少因TNF-α所造成的細胞存活率下降。本研究利用西方墨點法證實了L-carnitine和MCPE可以抑制因TNF-α導致的發炎反應及蛋白質降解的相關途徑。此外，實驗中發現L-carnitine及MCPE可以有效減少TNF-α產生的活性氧化物（Reactive oxygen species, ROS），並預防TNF-α帶來的粒線體膜電位及Complex III之損傷。而MCPE也確實能夠輔助L-carnitine提升更多細胞內超氧化物歧化酶（Superoxide dismutase, SOD）的活性。此研究顯示MCPE輔助L-carnitine對於保護細胞免於TNF-α引起的細胞傷害提供了具有潛力的預防方法。According to statistics from Ministry of the Interior, Taiwan is expected to take only 7 years to transit from an ‘aging society’ (14% seniors in 2018) to a ‘super-aged society’ (20% seniors in 2025). People over 65 years old will suffer from multiple chronic diseases due to aging, resulting in poor organ function, decreased activity, increasing level of inflammatory factors, or declination of antioxidant mechanisms, etc. All of the situations above will cause rapid muscle atrophy and loss of muscle mass, causing the outcome of sarcopenia. People diagnosed with sarcopenia have a reduced life expectancy, so sarcopenia has become a disease that cannot be ignored. L-carnitine regulates long-chain fatty acids metabolism and energy production. L-carnitine can enhance muscular endurance when combined with effective exercise. Therefore, it is often used as a dietary supplement by athletes or bodybuilders. Many researches also show that L-carnitine can improve muscle atrophy, reduce oxidative stress and inflammation. Myrciaria cauliflora is rich in various nutrients. Previous studies have demonstrated that Myrciaria cauliflora polyphenol extract (MCPE) can improve diabetic nephropathy, blood lipids, and obesity by decreasing inflammation and oxidative stress. Nowadays, many people lack of time to exercise because of busying with work or schoolwork. However, if only ingesting L-carnitine without exercise, it is not effective to enhance muscle mass or muscular endurance to prevent sarcopenia. In this experiment, L6 skeletal muscle cells were treated with L-carnitine and MCPE for 1 hour, then tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) was added to induce cell atrophy and damage. Afterwards, we observe whether MCPE can assist L-carnitine in preventing cell damage caused by inflammation, and then explore the related mechanism. The results showed that TNF-α caused a decrease in L6 cell viability, whereas the cells pretreatment with L-carnitine and MCPE could significantly increase cell viability. Western blot assay demonstrated that L-carnitine and MCPE inhibited the inflammatory response and protein degradation pathways caused by TNF-α in L6 cells. Furthermore, it was found that L-carnitine and MCPE can reduce the reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, prevent the mitochondrial membrane potential and complex III damage of L6 cells caused by TNF-α. MCPE can indeed help L-carnitine to increase activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in the cells. This study showed that MCPE assisted with L-carnitine provided a potential preventive approach to protect cells from cell damage induced by TNF-α.肌少症肌肉萎縮嘉寶果多酚左旋肉鹼Myrciaria caulifloraPolyphenolsL-carnitineSarcopeniaMuscle atrophythesis