Increased mitochondrial Ca contributes to health decline with age and Duchene muscular dystrophy in C. elegans.

Sarcopenia is a geriatric syndrome characterized by an age-related decline in skeletal muscle mass and strength. Here, we show that suppression of mitochondrial calcium uniporter (MCU)-mediated Ca influx into mitochondria in the body wall muscles of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans improved the sarcopenic phenotypes, blunting movement and mitochondrial structural and functional decline with age. We found that normally aged muscle cells exhibited elevated resting mitochondrial Ca levels and increased mitophagy to eliminate damaged mitochondria.