BUFFALO, NY — July 13, 2026 — A new #review was #published in Volume 18 of Aging on June 26, 2026, titled “Hormonal dimorphism in sarcopenia disease.”
The review was led by first author Romain Menard and corresponding author Romain Madelaine from the MDI Biological Laboratory, Kathryn W. Davis Center for Regenerative Biology and Aging, Bar Harbor, Maine, USA.
Sarcopenia—the progressive loss of skeletal muscle mass, strength, and physical function with aging—is one of the leading causes of frailty and disability in older adults. Although the condition affects millions of people worldwide and has been recognized as a disease by the World Health Organization since 2016, treatment options remain largely limited to exercise and nutritional interventions, with no approved medications specifically targeting the disease. Growing evidence now suggests that one reason for this limited success is that sarcopenia develops through distinct biological mechanisms in women and men.
In this comprehensive review, the authors examine how biological sex influences the hormonal mechanisms underlying muscle aging. They focus on three peptide hormones—apelin, insulin, and oxytocin—and describe how age-related changes in these interconnected signaling networks contribute to muscle decline through distinct biological pathways in women and men.
According to the review, women often experience an abrupt decline in muscle health during menopause as estrogen levels fall rapidly. This hormonal transition disrupts apelin signaling, accelerates insulin resistance, reduces oxytocin-mediated muscle regeneration, and impairs the function of satellite cells, the muscle stem cells responsible for repair and regeneration. In contrast, men generally undergo a slower, more gradual decline in muscle function that parallels progressive reductions in testosterone, resulting in different patterns of hormonal dysregulation and disease progression.
The review also highlights the central roles of apelin, insulin, and oxytocin in maintaining healthy skeletal muscle. Together, these hormones regulate muscle metabolism, glucose utilization, mitochondrial function, protein homeostasis, inflammation, and satellite-cell activity through overlapping signaling pathways. Disruption of this hormonal network during aging is proposed to contribute to impaired muscle repair, reduced metabolic function, chronic inflammation, and progressive muscle loss.
Full press release - https://aging-us.net/2026/07/13/sex-specific-hormones-could-hold-the-key-to-better-sarcopenia-treatments/
DOI - https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.206392
Corresponding author - Romain Madelaine - rmadelaine@mdibl.org
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Keywords - aging, sarcopenia, hormonal dimorphism, muscle aging, sex-stratified medicine, sexual dimorphism
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