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- Authors:
- Steingruber, Laura; Schweiger, Franziska; Handtke, Simona; Schiele, Stefan; Petra, Stefania; Krabichler, Florian; Märkl, Bruno; Koch, Marco
- Document type:
- Zeitschriftenartikel / Journal Article
- Title:
- Respiratory skeletal muscle degeneration in Covid-19 patients
- Journal:
- Annals of Anatomy - Anatomischer Anzeiger
- Volume:
- 260
- Year:
- 2025
- Language:
- Englisch
- Abstract:
- Introduction: Dyspnea and whole-body sarcopenia are specific symptoms of acute and post Covid-19 infection (CI). To which extent respiratory muscle degeneration (RMD) is attributed to direct effects of CI, immobility, or mechanical ventilation in intensive care unit remains unknown. Therefore, RMD was studied in CI-positive patients and controls. Methods: Pseudonymized pathological routine sections of diaphragm and intercostal muscle of 61 deceased in-patients of University Hospital Augsburg were collected. Reports of CI-status, lung-associated comorbidities, duration of hospitalization, mechanical ventilation and biographical data were conceived. Immunohistochemical markers for myofiber type, stem cell (SC) status, inflammation, and oxidative stress (OS) were applied. Immunohistochemistry was quantified and statistically correlated with clinical data. Results: CI-positive patients showed RMD, since infected elder subjects showed increased muscle-regenerating active SCs (Pax7; p=0.048). Further, immobility (p=0.034) or duration of CI (p<0.001) was positively correlated with muscle fibre type remodelling from myosin slow to fast twitch. Elder patients demonstrated raised markers for OS (ALDH1A1, ALDH1A3, SelK; p=0.001) and cell senescence (GLB1; p=0.027) with a non-CI-related significance when compared to controls (p>0.05). Intercostal muscle of patients with high BMI positively correlated with SCs activation (CD56; p=0.0.024), inflammation (IL-6; p=0.035) and OS (ALDH1A1; p=0.044). No significant impact of mechanical ventilation and lung-associated comorbidities was observed. Discussion: CI-positive patients displayed signs of increased RMD correlated with either the duration of CI or age. Interestingly, RMD was not correlated with mechanical ventilation. Future studies need to evaluate the underlying molecular and cellular mechanisms of CI-dependent RMD to further improve therapeutic options of CI-suffering patients.
- ISSN:
- 1618-0402
- DOI:
- 10.1016/j.aanat.2025.152484
- URL:
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aanat.2025.152484
- Department:
- Fakultät für Humanwissenschaften
- Institute:
- HUM 5 - Institut für Sportwissenschaft
- Chair:
- Wagner, Matthias
- Open Access yes or no?:
- Nein / No
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