Treating muscle atrophy

Patent Granted Muscle atrophy is defined as a decrease in the mass of the muscle; it can be a partial or complete wasting away of muscle. When a muscle atrophies, this leads to muscle weakness, since the ability to exert force is related to mass. Muscle atrophy results from a co-morbidity of several common diseases, including cancer, AIDS, congestive heart failure, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), renal failure, and severe burns; patients who have "cachexia" in these disease settings have a poor prognosis. Moreover, starvation eventually leads to muscle atrophy. Disuse of the muscles will also lead to disuse atrophy while neurogenic atrophy is muscle atrophy that results from damage to the nerve that stimulates the muscle. Also, time in a circa zero g environment without exercise will lead to atrophy. This is partially due to the smaller amount of exertion needed to move about, and that muscles are not used to maintain posture.