Seoul National University · Medicine
Professor Wook Song's research lab focuses on the molecular mechanisms underlying skeletal muscle aging and the beneficial effects of exercise on muscle health and metabolic function. The lab investigates how physical activity modulates key signaling pathways—such as apoptosis, myokine secretion, nitric oxide synthase isoforms, and ketone metabolism (e.g., beta-hydroxybutyrate and apelin)—to counteract age-related muscle atrophy and metabolic dysfunction. A central theme is identifying exercise-induced myokines and metabolites as potential therapeutic targets for treating sarcopenia, type 2 diabetes, and cognitive decline. The lab integrates preclinical models with translational human studies to bridge cellular mechanisms and clinical outcomes.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
The aging process in skeletal muscle is characterized by a loss of myocytes and reduction in cross-sectional area of the remaining myocytes, particularly in Type II (fast-twitch) muscle fibers. In multinucleated skeletal muscle, apoptosis may contribute to both fiber atrophy and loss of muscle fibers. Recent evidence suggests that the mitochondrial Bcl-2 family pathway may be a target of aging. Here the authors demonstrated that aging increased DNA fragmentation, cleaved caspase-3, and pro-apopt
Skeletal muscle has been emerging as a research field since the past 2 decades. Contraction of a muscle, which acts as a secretory organ, stimulates production, secretion, and expression of cytokines or other muscle fiber-derived peptides, i.e., myokines. Exercise-induced myokines influence crosstalk between different organs in an autocrine, endocrine, or paracrine fashion. Myokines are recently recognized as potential candidates for treating metabolic diseases through their ability to stimulate
The effects of exercise training on the nitric oxide synthase (NOS) isoform profile in aging fast-twitch (white gastrocnemius [WG]) and slow-twitch (soleus [SOL]) muscle have not been investigated. Six-month and 27-month male Fischer-344 rats were divided into the following groups: young sedentary (YS), young treadmill exercise trained for 12 weeks, old sedentary (OS), and old exercise trained (OE). Inducible NOS (iNOS) protein expression and activity were significantly higher in OS compared wit
These results show the effectiveness of following self-directed resistance training with health education after supervised training cessation in improvement of short physical performance battery and leg muscle strength. This intervention program might be an effective method to promote muscle strength and quality, and to prevent frailty in elderly women. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2017; 17: 825-833.
A role for exercise-induced apelin in improving metabolism indicates the possibility of a new drug target for the treatment of metabolic diseases and repairing skeletal muscle damage. Muscle Nerve 56: 1155-1163, 2017.
Recent studies have shown that exercise improves skeletal muscle and cognitive function by stimulating the secretion of numerous molecules. In particular, previous studies have suggested that exercise-induced beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) release might improve skeletal muscle and cognitive function, but to date these studies have been limited to cell and animal models. Therefore, we aimed to determine how an exercise-induced increase in BHB affects skeletal muscle and cognitive function at a cellul
The findings of this study suggest the favorable effects of 8-week HSPT on the neuromuscular function and the gait performance in the frail elderly with MCI without increase in the executive function.
Twelve weeks of resistance exercise reduced soleus and tibialis anterior muscle FGF-2 protein level in aged mice with improvement in appendicular lean mass and muscle strength. Thus, resistance exercise could be an efficient intervention for preventing age-related increase of FGF-2 in skeletal muscle.
Cisplatin has been reported to cause side effects such as muscle wasting in humans and rodents. The physiological mechanisms involved in preventing muscle wasting, such as the regulation of AKT, PGC1-α, and autophagy-related factor FOXO3a by MuRF 1 and Atrogin-1, remain unclear following different types of exercise and in various skeletal muscle types. Eight-week-old male Wistar rats (n = 34) were assigned to one of four groups: control (CON, n = 6), cisplatin injection (1 mg/kg) without exercis
Fire-fighting is highly required with aerobic fitness, strength, and body composition. However, there is a lack of comprehensive physical fitness data for South Korean firefighters. The purpose of this study was to collect fundamental data obtained with precise methods to compare with previously reported values form other countries. A total of 102 Korean national firefighters (84 males and 18 females) participated in this study. A graded exercise test was performed to measure the VO2max of the p
Resistance training led to suppression of SPARC expression in the plantaris and showed a pretraining effect in atrophied rat muscle. Thus, SPARC may play a pivotal role in muscle homeostasis. Muscle Nerve 53: 951-957, 2016.
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