Blocking an enzyme involved in making ceramides—a group of fatty molecules—improved muscle health and fitness in ageing mice. The study, published on 17 May 2023 in Science Translational Medicine, also examined human muscle samples and cells. It did not test a treatment in people.
Following a signal in ageing muscle
Tanes I. Lima and colleagues analysed gene-activity datasets from human muscle biopsies. They found changes in ceramide production alongside disturbances in mitochondrial function and protein maintenance. Their lipid measurements also detected increasing ceramide accumulation with age in worms, mice and humans.
Mitochondria help supply usable energy. Protein maintenance, or proteostasis, keeps cellular proteins correctly made, folded and removed when damaged. Both processes matter for working muscle. Original study abstract.
Targeting a starting point
The team targeted serine palmitoyltransferase, or SPT, an enzyme at the start of ceramide production. Gene silencing or treatment with the inhibitor myriocin improved mitochondrial and protein maintenance in the experimental systems studied.
The reported outcomes differed between species: lifespan benefits were observed in Caenorhabditis elegans worms; muscle health and fitness improved in mice. Human muscle-cell experiments supported the biological mechanism, without establishing a benefit for patients. Original study abstract.
That distinction changes the interpretation. An association in human tissue, a response in cultured cells and an intervention in an animal each answer a different question. Together they can support a treatment hypothesis, but cannot establish a dose that would safely help an older person.
Later evidence: update added 23 September 2026
A follow-up paper published online on 29 December 2024 investigated ALT-007, another SPT inhibitor that could be given in food. Eighteen-month-old male mice received the compound or a control diet during a 20-week experiment, with young mice providing an additional comparison.
Treated older mice performed better in tests of grip strength, hanging ability, coordination and aerobic capacity. Muscle mass and spontaneous activity also improved. However, improvements in uphill running endurance and a blood marker of muscle damage after downhill exercise were not statistically significant. The treatment therefore did not improve every measured outcome.
The authors reported encouraging tolerability measurements, including no detected changes in liver- and muscle-injury markers in a short dosing experiment. Those observations are specific to the animals, doses and tests used. They do not establish long-term safety in people. Myriocin’s development has been limited by toxicity concerns, illustrating why blocking this pathway cannot be assumed to be safe. ALT-007 study.
The enzyme target matters
Ceramides are a family of molecules, and changing one part of their production pathway can have different consequences from changing another.
In a separate study reported in eLife, reducing the activity of ceramide synthase 1, or CERS1, worsened muscle mass and function in aged mice. Muscle inflammation and fibrosis also increased. This enzyme acts at a different step from SPT and helps determine which ceramide species are produced.
These findings argue against treating all ceramides—or every enzyme that makes them—as interchangeable targets. The practical research question is which intervention improves muscle function while preserving the lipid processes that healthy cells need. The studies discussed here provide experimental leads, not an established treatment for muscle ageing in humans.
Related reading: Nanozyme Helps Collagen Resist Enzymatic Breakdown.
Update note, 23 September 2026: This archived report was revised to distinguish animal experiments from human evidence, correct the journal name, remove unsupported treatment and safety claims, and add separately dated research context. The original publication date has been retained.
References
- Lima, T. I., Laurila, P.-P., Wohlwend, M., et al. (2023). Inhibiting de novo ceramide synthesis restores mitochondrial and protein homeostasis in muscle aging. Science Translational Medicine, 15(696), eade6509. DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.ade6509.
- Poisson, J., Daskalaki, I., Potluri, V., et al. Safe and Orally Bioavailable Inhibitor of Serine Palmitoyltransferase Improves Age-Related Sarcopenia. ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science, 8(1), 203–215 (2025); first published online 29 December 2024. DOI: 10.1021/acsptsci.4c00587.
- Wohlwend, M., Laurila, P.-P., Goeminne, L. J. E., et al. (2024). Inhibition of CERS1 in skeletal muscle exacerbates age-related muscle dysfunction. eLife, 12, RP90522. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.90522. An author-list correction was published on 20 May 2024.
