New research at the University of Texas Medical Branch holds promise for helping people maintain strength and mobility as they age.

The research, published recently in the peer-reviewed scientific journal, Scientific Reports, describes how a small-molecule drug being developed at UTMB and tested in aged mice is superior to intensive resistance/aerobic exercise at improving muscle strength and function.

According to Dr. Stanley Watowich, associate professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at UTMB, strength improvements with the drug were twice those observed with exercise alone. The drug also prevented the animals from getting weaker as they aged. By contrast, the animals that were continually exercised but did not receive the drug lost strength as they aged.

Watowich said that the goal is to prevent adults from becoming weaker and less mobile as they age, thereby allowing them to stay fully and completely engaged in their communities and activities.