8. Nutrition-medication interaction

In the context of an aging population, nutrition is a lever to curb sarcopenia and maintain the autonomy of the elderly. This population is particularly prone to chronic pain of mild to moderate intensity, which is primarily treated with acetaminophen. We previously showed that chronic acetaminophen use induces cysteine ​​deficiency, associated with a worsening of sarcopenia. Using the bioluminescent transgenic mouse line CARE-LUC, we studied the effects of chronic acetaminophen treatment on the eIF2α-ATF4 signaling pathway and its metabolic consequences.

This pathway is known to respond to cellular stress generated by the lack of an essential amino acid. We showed that chronic acetaminophen treatment leads to activation of the eIF2α-ATF4 pathway in the liver and skeletal muscle and confirmed that this treatment induces muscle atrophy. Dietary cysteine ​​supplementation during this drug treatment prevents :

• activation of the eIF2α-ATF4 pathway and its target genes in these organs,
• metabolic disturbances
• muscle mass loss.

Nutritional cysteine ​​supplementation therefore plays a key role in limiting the adverse metabolic effects induced by chronic paracetamol treatment. We are currently working on the development of a nutritional supplement for malnourished elderly patients undergoing chronic paracetamol treatment.

DOI : 10.3390/ijms23137196

Contact : Isabelle Papet - Alain Bruhat