The aim of the present study was to assess age-dependent changes of proteins in the vastus lateralis muscle of physically active elderly and young subjects by a combination of two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis, SDS-PAGE and ESI-MS/MS. The differences observed in the elderly group included down-regulation of regulatory myosin light chains, particularly the phosphorylated isoforms, a higher proportion of myosin heavy chain isoforms 1 and 2A, and enhanced oxidative and reduced glycolytic capacity.

High altitude hypoxia is a paraphysiological condition triggering redox status disturbances of cell organization leading, via oxidative stress, to proteins, lipids, and DNA damage. In man, skeletal muscle, after prolonged exposure to hypoxia, undergoes mass reduction and alterations at the cellular level featuring a reduction of mitochondrial volume density, accumulation of lipofuscin, a product of lipid peroxidation, and dysregulation of enzymes whose time course is unknown. The effects of 7-9 days exposure to 4559 m (Margherita Hut, Monte Rosa, Italy) on the muscle proteins pattern were investigated, pre- and post-exposure, in ten young subjects, by 2-D DIGE and MS. Ten milligram biopsies were obtained from the mid part of the vastus lateralis muscle at sea level (control) and at altitude, after 7-9 days hypoxia. Differential analysis indicates that proteins involved in iron transport, tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, oxidative phosphorylation, and oxidative stress responses were significantly (p<0.05) decreased in hypoxia. Parenthetically, hypoxia markers such as hypoxia inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF-1alpha) and pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 1 (PDK1) were still at the pre-hypoxia levels, whereas the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), a marker of protein synthesis, was reduced.