Platelet bioenergetics correlate with skeletal muscle metabolism in C57BL/6J mice

Skeletal muscle insulin resistance is a key step in progression of cardiometabolic disease, and impaired mitochondrial bioenergetics has been implicated. However, mitochondrial bioenergetic research in skeletal muscle is limited by the need for muscle biopsies. We sought to determine if platelet bioenergetics could be used as a minimally invasive surrogate for skeletal muscle bioenergetics. Multiple parameters of mitochondrial respiration, measured by high resolution respirometry, correlated between platelets and gastrocnemius muscle in mice. We propose the coupling state of platelet mitochondria reflects that of skeletal muscle in mice, providing a foundation for future research on using platelets as a liquid biopsy for muscle mitochondrial health in cardiometabolic disease, offering early insights into muscle metabolism to enhance clinical biomarker implementation.