We confirmed the research results suggesting that the intake of the microalgae Euglena

Euglena Co., Ltd.

　Euglena Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo, President: Mitsuru Izumo) is a microalgae Euglena (Japanese name: Euglena) in collaboration with Professor Hirofumi Tachibana of Kyushu University. , Below Euglena) We have confirmed the research results suggesting the suppression of muscle atrophy symptoms, which is a condition in which muscles become thin due to aging, etc., by ingesting powder.

■ Background and purpose
　Skeletal muscle, the largest tissue in the human body, plays an important role in exercise, energy metabolism, sugar uptake, etc., but aging, stress, space flight, etc. can cause muscle atrophy symptoms that cause muscle thinning. .. Loss of muscle mass due to muscular atrophy causes a decrease in QOL (Quality of Life), such as the onset of ^{locomotive syndrome *} that impairs daily life such as walking and sitting, and the resulting physical and mental fragility. I know. This time, Euglena powder suppresses the muscular atrophy symptoms of skeletal muscle, we evaluated using mice with muscular atrophy.
* Locomotive syndrome: Refers to locomotive syndrome, which is a condition in which daily life such as walking and standing and sitting is impaired due to weakening of locomotive organs such as bones, joints, and muscles.

■ Research content
　A type of skeletal muscle that causes muscular atrophy in mice that have been pre-ingested with Euglena Euglena group) and mice that have been fed a normal diet (control group) by not using muscles because they are bedridden. We measured quadriceps muscle mass and investigated its effect on the expression of genes associated with muscular atrophy symptoms.

■ Results
　Euglena group, suppression of the atrophy rate of the quadriceps femoris was confirmed compared to the control group. It was also suggested that in the quadriceps femoris, it promotes the expression of genes involved in muscle protein synthesis and, conversely, suppresses the expression of genes involved in inhibition of muscle protein synthesis. In other words, Euglena powder promoted muscle protein synthesis and suppressed muscular atrophy symptoms.

　The above research results were presented at the 72nd Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Nutrition and Food Science on May 12, 2018.
Going forward, we will continue to carry out research and development with the aim of utilizing Euglena
　The details are as follows.

About suppression of muscular atrophy symptoms by ingestion of Euglena

〇Research content
　Mice that had been fed Euglena Euglena group) and mice that had been fed a normal diet (control group) were put into a state of muscular atrophy by disuse muscle atrophy (being bedridden and not using muscles). The atrophy rate was confirmed by measuring the muscle mass of the quadriceps femoris. In addition, since the muscle mass of the quadriceps femoris is controlled by repeated synthesis and degradation of muscle proteins, the expression of genes involved in promoting muscle protein synthesis (S6K) and inhibiting synthesis (4E-BP1). I measured the amount.

〇Result
　Euglena powder suppressed the quadriceps atrophy rate in mice with disuse muscular atrophy.
We also confirmed that it suggests the promotion of the expression of the gene (S6K) involved in the promotion of muscle protein synthesis and the suppression of the expression of the gene (4E-BP1) involved in the inhibition of synthesis in the quadriceps femoris.

<Quadriceps atrophy rate>

<Expression of each gene in the quadriceps femoris>

* p <0.05, ** p <0.01 vs control

〇Summary
　From the above results, Euglena powder promotes muscle protein synthesis and suppresses muscular atrophy symptoms.

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