In conclusion, the negative effect of chronically elevated lev-els of inflammatory cytokines on muscle mitochondrial functionmay underlie the well-known association between low-gradeinflammation and sarcopenia. This implies that interventions tar-geting inflammation might help preserve skeletal muscle massand function in advanced age, a concept starting to be sup-ported by preclinical and epidemiological studies (Rieu et al.,2009; Landi et al., 2013). Further research is necessary to deci-pher the complex interaction between mitochondrial dysfunctionand inflammation, select the most relevant inflammatory pathwaysto target, and identify circulating biomarkers that reflect the rela-tionship among inflammation, muscle mitochondrial damage andsarcopenia.