Targeting mitochondrial quality control in muscle aging: Natural dietary products as potential interventions

Mitochondria are the main sources of energy production for muscle tissues, including skeletal, cardiac, or smooth muscle, to support their activities. Mitochondrial dysfunction and dysregulation of their quality control systems are significant characteristics in aged muscle. Increasing evidence indicates that natural products, especially phytochemicals, can prevent or improve age-related muscle disorders. Among them, some dietary components specifically regulate mitochondrial quality control (MQC) to play their efficacy. However, the content of related studies is currently not systematically reviewed. In this review, composition, changes, and associated regulators in the MQC network during muscle aging were summarized by comprehensive literature retrieval. Subsequently, the effects and mechanisms of dietary active ingredients on this control network were described. This review showed that mitochondrial dysfunction is a common feature in different types of muscle aging. And four main ways of MQC are involved in maintaining mitochondrial homeostasis and they form a tight and integral system, for muscle-healthy aging. The benefits of specific endogenous metabolites and exogenous components on aged muscle health are mediated in the above ways. Dietary phytochemicals including phenols, terpenoids, and alkaloids, unfold their influential roles in delaying muscle aging via promoting mitochondrial biogenesis and mitophagy. These findings suggest that MQC is a promising action site against muscle aging and food or herbal-derived natural products are representative potential interventions. More clinical studies in the future are worthy of future investigation of these natural products.