@article{Zhou2025, 
author = {Mengqing Zhou and Yuhong Yang and Yan Zheng and Zijian Wu and Chen Chen and Qijian Liang and Yu Yang and Hao Wu and Xin Guo and Lei Du},
title = {Krill oil attenuates obesity-induced skeletal muscle atrophy in mice},
year = {2025},
journal = {Food Science and Human Wellness},
volume = {14},
number = {1},
pages = {9250018},
keywords = {Obesity, Skeletal muscle atrophy, Inflammation, Protein turnover, Mitochondrial biogenesis},
url = {https://www.sciopen.com/article/10.26599/FSHW.2024.9250018},
doi = {10.26599/FSHW.2024.9250018},
abstract = {Obesity is associated with skeletal muscle mass loss and physical dysfunction. Krill oil (KO) has been shown to be beneficial in human health. However, the effect of KO on obesity-induced skeletal muscle atrophy is still unclear. In this study, the male C57BL/6J mice were fed a high-fat diet (HFD) for 12 weeks to induce obesity, and then were intragastric administration with 400 mg/kg bw KO for an additional 6 weeks. The results showed that KO treatment reduced body weight, fat accumulation and serum pro-inflammatory cytokines in HFD-induced obese mice. Importantly, KO treatment attenuated skeletal muscle atrophy in HFD-fed mice, as evidenced by preserving skeletal muscle mass, average myofiber cross-sectional area and grip strength. KO administration also mitigated obesity-induced ectopic lipid deposition and inflammatory response in skeletal muscle. Additionally, KO treatment inhibited the transcriptional activities of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB ) p65 and forkhead box O 3a (FoxO3a), and then down-regulated muscle atrophy F-box (MAFbx) and muscle-specific RING finger protein 1 (MuRF1) protein levels in skeletal muscle from HFD-fed mice. KO administration also improved obesity-induced impaired muscle protein synthesis via activating PI3K/Akt pathway. Furthermore, KO treatment enhanced muscle mitochondrial biogenesis in HFD-induced obese mice via activating PGC-1α pathway. Collectively, KO might be developed as a potential nutritional supplement for the prevention and treatment of obesity-induced skeletal muscle atrophy.}
}