There is a high need for blood-based
biomarkers detecting age-related changes in muscular performance at an early stage. Therefore, we investigated whether serum levels of growth and differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15),
activin A,
myostatin,
follistatin, and
insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) would reflect age- and physical performance-related differences between young (22-28 years) and elderly (65-92 years) females. Isokinetic peak torque of knee extension (PTE) was measured in young females to obtain reference values for the discrimination of different stages of age-associated
muscle weakness. Additionally, elderly women were screened for
sarcopenia using the algorithm of the European Working Group on
Sarcopenia in Older People (low muscle mass in addition to low PTE and/or low walking speed).
IGF-1 levels were higher and
GDF-15 levels were lower in young females in comparison to the elderly (p < 0.01), whereas members of the
activin A/
myostatin/
follistatin axis showed similar levels across age groups. In older women,
IGF-1 correlated negatively with age (ρ = -0.359, p < 0.01) and positively with muscle mass (ρ = 0.365, p < 0.01). In contrast,
GDF-15 correlated positively with age (ρ = 0.388, p < 0.001) and negatively with muscle mass (ρ = -0.320, p < 0.01). However, none of the
serum markers differed between women classified as non-, mildly and severely dynapenic/sarcopenic. Multiple linear regression analyses revealed that a combination of all blood-based
biomarkers obtained in addition to age and fat mass moderately predicted muscle mass (+2.9%). Neither a single nor a combined set of tested
biomarkers reflected the presence of dynapenia or
sarcopenia in elderly women. However, due to the associations of
IGF-1 and
GDF-15 with correlates of muscle mass and function, these parameters remain promising candidates in a potential set of blood-based
biomarkers to diagnose
sarcopenia and/or dynapenia.