Sijunzi decoction ameliorates geriatric sarcopenia by improving muscle strength, quality, and functions

BACKGROUND: To study the therapeutic efficacy and its mechanism of Sijunzi decoction (SJZD) in geriatric sarcopenia. METHODS: Geriatric sarcopenia patients were divided into control group (n = 31) and research group (n = 31). Control group received basic intervention therapy, research group received basic intervention therapy and SJZD. Clinical efficacy (AMIS, 6 meters walking speed, and grip strength), comprehensive geriatric assessment (activities of daily living, Morse, mini-nutritional assessment, Frail, mini-mental state examination, self-rating anxiety scale, and geriatric depression scale), the functions of liver and kidney, blood cells inflammatory indexes (platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, systemic immune-inflammatory index, systemic inflammation response index, and aggregate inflammation systemic index), and nutritional indicators were detected. Network pharmacology was used to study the mechanism of SJZD in treating sarcopenia. RESULTS: After SJZD treatment, the levels of AMIS, 6 meters walking speed, and grip strength, the scores of activities of daily living, mini-nutritional assessment, and mini-mental state examination scale were significantly increased, compared with the control group, while the scores of Morse, Frail, self-rating anxiety scale, and geriatric depression scale were strongly decreased. The levels of aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, hemoglobin, albumin, prealbumin, and body mass index in research group were obviously higher than that in control group, but the levels of blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, systemic immune-inflammatory index, systemic inflammation response index, and aggregate inflammation systemic index were obviously decreased after treatment. Network pharmacology results showed that the active ingredients of SJZD acted on 36 targets of sarcopenia, which were mainly enriched in the interleukin-17 pathway, TNF pathway. We also found that the serum levels of interleukin-1β, matrix metalloprotein-9, tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-6, myostatin, and C-reactive protein were significantly reduced by SJZD, which suggested the roles of SJZD in inflammation. CONCLUSION: SJZD improved muscle strength, quality, and functions in sarcopenia patients by reducing peripheral blood inflammation.