老化是在有機體的生命週期中不可逆和正在進行的自然現象。在這個過程中，伴隨著心臟疾病與肌肉功能流失，將直接受到影響。至目前為止，眾多的研究表明，褐藻醣膠(Fucoidan)以及褐藻素(Fucoxanthin)能夠幫助維持關節功能、降低膽固醇以及抗癌作用等。然而，老化是如何降低心臟和肌肉功能仍然是不清楚的。另外，褐藻醣膠以及褐藻素的補充是否能減緩因老化而導致心臟以及肌肉功能的變化。
我們的研究結果表明：(1)老化引起心臟以及肌肉功能變化(包括心律失常、QT間期延長以及肌肉功能缺損等，也伴隨著結構改變(包括心室肥厚、心肌纖維化以及血管和肌肉重塑等)與老化小鼠體內活性氧化物升高；(2)在老化小鼠中補充褐藻醣膠能改善心臟以及肌肉功能與減少活性氧化物；(3)補充褐藻素下能改善心臟以及肌肉功能與降低活性氧化物的；(4)合併褐藻醣膠與褐藻素的補充對心臟以及肌肉功能的改善有明顯的協同作用效果，與老化小鼠控制組體內活性氧化物相比下顯著降低。
本研究結果表明，在老化小鼠中給予褐藻醣膠合併褐藻素的補充，比單獨補充褐藻醣膠或褐藻素更加能改善心臟以及肌肉功能的表現。此研究還發現了褐藻醣膠介入的有效性，並與褐藻素合併補充下產生協同效應更能在老年人口中改善心臟以及肌肉功能。
Aging is accompanied by cardiac and muscular disorders and reduced abilities to produce normal functions that are considered to be the risk factors of falls and loss of functional independence. To date, studies have demonstrated that Fucoidan and Fucoxanthin are capable for improving collagen and epidermis formation and anticancer effects. However, if/how aging involves in reducing cardiac and skeletal muscular functions are still not very clear. In addition, whether Fucoidan as well as Fucoxanthin supplement is able to improve cardiac/skeletal muscular deficits caused by aging is still obscured.
Our results indicated that: 1) Aging caused cardiac/skeletal muscular deficits (including cardiac arrhythmias; QT prolongation; skeletal muscular functional deficit etc.) accompanied with structural remodeling (including ventricular hypertrophy; cardiac fibroblast; vascular and skeletal muscular remodeling etc.) and cell apoptosis among cardiac and skeletal muscular systems in aged-mice model; 2) Fucoidan supplement alone improved cardiac/skeletal muscular deficits in mice aging model; 3) Fucoxanthin supplement alone ameliorated cardiac/skeletal muscular deficits in mice aging model; 4) Fucoidan combined with Fucoxanthin supplement had the synergistic effects on the improvement of cardiac/skeletal muscular deficits caused by aging.
The results in this study suggested that Fucoidan alone and combined with Fucoxanthin supplement resulted in greater cardiac/skeletal muscular functional performances in aging mice than those without Fucoidan or/and with Fucoxanthin supplement. This application provided an insight into the effectiveness of Fucoidan intervention and had synergistic effects with Fucoxanthin supplement for reduced functional performances of cardiac/skeletal muscles in an older population.
