Research Paper Volume 15, Issue 2 pp 308—352
Body weight influences musculoskeletal adaptation to long-term voluntary wheel running during aging in female mice
Figure 3. Aging effects on soleus skeletal muscle weights and contractile force. Long-term endurance exercise increased soleus skeletal muscle weight and contractile force during aging from 18 mo to 22 mo in HBW, but not LBW mice. (A) Soleus muscle weight, (B) muscle weight/body weight (MW/BW) ratio, (C) absolute maximal contractile force, (D) specific maximal contractile force, (E) absolute submaximal contractile force and (F) specific submaximal contractile force in 18 mo and 22 mo mice. *: p < 0.05, ***: p < 0.001. VWR vs. CTRL mice. Abbreviations: CTRL: control group; VWR: voluntary wheel running group; CBW: Combined groups (18 mo: n = 16 CTRL, n = 17 VWR; 22 mo: n = 8 CTRL, n = 8 VWR); LBW: Low body weight group (18 mo: n = 8 CTRL, n = 10 VWR; 22 mo: n = 4 CTRL, n = 4 VWR); HBW: High body weight group (18 mo: n = 8 CTRL, n = 7 VWR; 22 mo: n = 4 CTRL, n = 4 VWR).