Tatyana

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...335816,00.html


Pop a pill to keep a six-pack without even breaking sweat
By Mark Henderson, Science Editor


WHILE achieving a toned and muscular physique is hard enough, maintaining it can become a chore. For the would-be Brad Pitts among us, help is at hand.

Scientists are on course to develop a drug that would allow people to maintain their six-packs without the need for exercise.

Research into muscle wastage — intended primarily to treat weakness in the sick and elderly — could lead to therapies that enable healthy people to preserve a buffed look without lifting a finger. While muscles can be built up with exercise, they start to break down quickly without it, so it is necessary to keep exercising to prevent muscles wasting away.



The same atrophy process becomes a serious health risk in bedridden patients and the elderly and among those with diseases such as Aids, cancer and kidney failure. Muscle is lost through disuse, starting a vicious circle in which exercise becomes difficult, leading to further wastage.

The problem has prompted several teams of scientists to seek out the genetic cues that trigger muscle atrophy in response to rest, with a view to finding drugs to treat wasting conditions. At least three research groups have now identified some of the genes responsible. While a workable drug remains some way off, scientists are convinced that it will be possible to control muscle wasting pharmacologically, New Scientist magazine reports today.

Such a drug would be designed for use by elderly people to combat the natural muscle wastage that accompanies old age, and to prevent muscle loss in patients with wasting conditions or who have to remain bedridden for a long time. It would also be useful for astronauts spending long periods in space, where the lack of gravity leads to muscle wastage.

Other potential users include athletes wishing to preserve muscle they have built by training without further exertion, and by ordinary people seeking to do the same thing.

“Those in the field agree that the question is no longer if we can develop anti-wasting treatments, but when,” New Scientist says. “While there are valid medical applications for anti-wasting drugs, as a safer alternative to steroids they will inevitably be hugely tempting for athletes too, not to mention the lazy well.”

Two independent teams, one at Harvard University and one from a pharmaceutical company called Regeneron, have identified genes named atrogin1 and muRF1 which are active only during muscle atrophy. In rats, when these are knocked out, the animals suffer much less muscle wastage from disease or disuse.

A third team, at Purdue University, Indiana, has found another gene, erg1, which also contributes to the process. Its influence can be affected by an existing drug called astemizole, although this has been withdrawn because it can interfere with healthy heart activity.

Several companies are developing drugs that block the atrogin1 protein, and scientists are increasingly convinced that a workable therapy will be ready for testing soon. Researchers also accept that, while such a drug would not be intended for healthy people, it would have great appeal as a “gym in a bottle” medicine.

Such a drug would not remove the need to exercise to build up muscles, but it would protect existing muscles against subsequent wastage. People could bulk up in the gym, then relax, while maintaining the look they have achieved. Taking a drug like this would not in itself boost fitness, but by maintaining bigger muscles it would ensure people burn more calories at rest.

Dudex

Not too sure on the article's claims "maintaining muscle mass" whilst not training.
In prinicipal, atrogin1 and muRF1 are both present in the muscle atrophy process, which is a common mechanism for varied conditions resulting in muscle loss.

In my view, even if you inhibit these two genes, muscle wastage will stilll occur - maybe at a slower rate-.
In the long run i think that the body will just produce more of these genes, or find an alternative method of removing the muscle. (not very scientific, but i dont know enough about the respective processes).

__________________
Lack of will power has caused more failure than lack of intelligence or ability.

Tatyana

Mechanism discovered for muscle wasting seen in diabetes, AIDS and other diseases
nächste Meldung 15.10.2004

Muscle wasting is associated with aging and a serious consequence of different diseases, including cancer and diabetes. Researchers at Joslin Diabetes Center, with the assistance of other collaborating researchers, have discovered an important biochemical pathway for muscle wasting--as well as a potential target for drug therapy. The study will be published in the Oct. 15 issue of the journal Cell.

Muscle wasting is a hallmark of a number of diseases, including cancer, bacterial sepsis, AIDS, diabetes, and end-stage heart, kidney and obstructive pulmonary disease. Muscle wasting can cause generalized weakness and debilitation and in its extreme, when respiratory muscles are involved, asphyxia and even death.


Dongsheng Cai, M.D., Ph.D., a postdoctoral Fellow at Joslin Diabetes Center and Steven Shoelson, M.D., Ph.D., Helen and Morton Adler Chair and Associate Research Director at Joslin Diabetes Center, and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, along with their colleagues at Joslin, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, The Children’s Hospital Boston, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in Tarrytown, NY, used transgenic (genetically altered) mice to study the biochemical pathways underlying muscle wasting. Their studies zeroed in on a transcription factor called NF-kB, which is well known for its importance in immune cells but was previously not known to be a critical mediator of muscle wasting.

The investigators created two different strains of transgenic mice--MIKK mice, in which NF-kB was activated selectively in muscle tissue, and MISR mice, in which NF-kB activation was inhibited in muscle. The MIKK mice were viable and appeared normal at birth, but as they matured, their body weight was reduced due to decreases in skeletal muscle mass. Their muscle fibers were also smaller than those of their non-genetically altered littermates. On the other hand, the MISR mice were normal in terms of appearance, body weight, and individual muscle weight and histology (the appearance of cells under the microscope) throughout life.

High doses of drugs called salicylates have been shown to inhibit NF-kB activity, so the researchers studied the impact of these drugs on MIKK mice. In one protocol, they initiated treatment with salicylates after weaning in 4-week-old MIKK mice already affected by muscle wasting. The mice’s body weights increased with salicylate treatment and, after six months of therapy, their body weight, muscle mass and muscle fiber size were nearly normal. In a prevention protocol, salicylate treatment was begun during gestation. In these latter mice, body weights and muscle mass were essentially normal throughout life.

The researchers also studied the effects of blocking NF-kB activation in mouse models of muscle wasting, including immobilization/denervation and cancer. The former is a model for the muscle wasting that occurs during disuse, such as when a limb is casted, or in spinal cord injuries. Inhibition of NF-kB in MISR mice was accompanied by a partial remission of denervation-induced muscle atrophy, including increased muscle mass and fiber size. Muscle wasting is a significant problem for patients with certain forms of cancer, where it seriously diminishes their quality of life. They found that the MISR mice with cancer were protected from loosing muscle mass, and the MISR mice had much better survival rates than did normal mice with cancer. Thus, selective NF-kB blockade in muscle decreased muscle wasting and prolonged survival in this mouse model of cancer.

"The discovery that NF-kB activation is sufficient to cause skeletal muscle atrophy in vivo and that blockage of the NF-kB pathway can ameliorate atrophy suggests a new set of drug targets for chemical intervention during cachexia, cancer, AIDS and other settings of atrophy," the authors conclude. "This is critically important because unfortunately there are currently no drugs approved for the treatment of skeletal muscle atrophy."

bigdaftjoe

phew can i join in at "lose your fat gut 4.99 a bottle"? t youre much too clever for me babe x

Tatyana

I will read again, however, the bodies trash disposal system is the ubiquitin protein.

This does break down muscle, but the muscle proteins to be destroyed must first be identified.

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Tatyana

Joe, there are different types of clever. I am educated!

Ok another article on this, this is MAJOR, cause if they figure out how muscle breaks down, hypotrophy, they might figure out what makes it grow, and all sorts of new ways to get more muscle may be available.


You have to have the muscle in the first place to stop it from atrophying.

They used to use anabolic steroids to prevent wasting, and still do in extreme cases such as some of the muscular dystrophies and in AIDS, however, as STEROIDS are BAD now ..........................................

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5301112.stm

'Gym pill' for a no-work six-pack

The pill would maintain muscle tone without the need for pumping iron
Scientists are racing to develop a muscle drug that could allow people to stay toned without exercising.

The aim is to prevent muscle weakness and wasting in the sick and elderly and to help make long space flights feasible for humans.

But anti-wasting drugs would inevitably be tempting for athletes, experts told New Scientist magazine.

Teams have been studying the genetic pathways controlling how muscle builds up and is broken down in the body.

Gym in a bottle

Tests on rodents showed that manipulating these pathways can halt muscle wastage from disuse or disease.

At least three research groups have identified some of the genes responsible.

Alfred Goldberg and colleagues at Harvard University in the US and a pharmaceutical company Regeneron have found genes called atrogin1 and muRF1 that are active during muscle wasting.

A team at Purdue University, Indiana, has been looking at a gene called erg1.

It's extremely exciting and of enormous potential for clinical intervention

Professor Paul Greenhaff, from Nottingham University

Scientists are confident that they will soon have a workable therapy ready for testing in humans.

Such drugs could be given to patients confined to bed for more than a few days or to elderly patients to help keep them mobile.

The drugs might mean that people with broken bones could avoid long and painful physiotherapy sessions to rebuild muscle strength.

Weaning people off respirators would also become easier as doctors could prevent wasting of the diaphragm.

NASA is also interested in the medicines because astronauts lose muscle mass on long missions.

Open to abuse

But while there are valid medical and space applications for anti-wasting drugs, they will inevitably be tempting for athletes, Dr Goldberg said.

Experts warn that the although the drugs would maintain muscle size, they would not provide any of the other health benefits of regular exercise.

Professor Paul Greenhaff at Nottingham University in the UK has been conducting similar research into muscle growth and wasting.

It is our hope that its use will be on serious medical conditions rather than for those desiring a 'gym in a bottle'

Dr Julia Thomas at the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign

He said: "It's extremely exciting and of enormous potential for clinical intervention.

"But we need to do these experiments in patients now.

"And there is a potential for abuse of these drugs," he added.

He said that the role of exercise had been underplayed.

"Contraction of the muscle itself is important. Exercise itself is the most highly potent stimulus of muscle growth.

"We must also look closer at nutrition as well."

He said dietary intake of carbohydrate and protein is known to promote muscle protein synthesis, he said.

Dr Julia Thomas at the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign said: "In order for this treatment to be truly beneficial it is important that muscle strength is also increased and future trials and research will be key in determining whether this is the case."

She said a pill to prevent muscle loss would unfortunately not be able to change the genetic cause of muscular dystrophy, but might slow down the disease progression.

"It is our hope that if this research becomes a workable drug the concentration of its use will be on serious medical conditions, such as muscular dystrophy, rather than for those desiring a 'gym in a bottle'."

Peg

This is interesting, Tatyana.

I would like to know more about the nutritional aspects.

The body is very efficient.
It will change protein into energy if the proper nutrition is not available.
I would want to know what the mechanism is that tells the body to waste the muscle and why. What are the precursors to the gene activation? What stimulates the gene activation?
I wonder if it is related to nutrition.
If there is no contraction in the muscle does the body see that muscle as useless to spend valuable energy resources on it and therefore "wastes" it?

For some things such as being bed ridden or in a cast, the muscle is not being used and if the nutrition is not adequate it does seem logical that the muscle would be canibalized for energy. To be able to slow that down seems to be a good thing, but if it is slowed down then what will the body then do to supply it's energy.

__________________
"21st century man is not conquered by guns, nor by oppression, but by seduction."

"Pride to the human heart is like lard to the pig." Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

"The best punch is the one that is both first, last, and ends the fight."

Tatyana

It is shocking that so little is known about muscle!

Just that it is so metabolically active, that when any stressors are removed (like training), the muscle begins to waste quite quickly, and when required, responds quickly.

It really is the old adage, use it or lose it.

I read a few papers recently that said by the age of 60-70, most people will have lost 50% of their muscle mass, and that this loss begins during the late 20s, early 30s.

The same applies to the brain, it shrinks with disuse, and even reading the paper every day seems to help to prevent dementia!

This is highly significant in the quality of life in older age! Most women die from complications of osteoporosis (pathological fractures, infections etc), and having muscle (from resistance training) helps to prevent these falls and maintain bone density.

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Peg

Maybe an attitude adjustment needs to be made about being old.

I can remember when I was 20 how 50 seemed so old.
Now, it seems to me that 90 is old!!!
lol

I think if we fall into the mentality that life ends at 40 or 50 then our lifestyles will reflect it.

I took MA and weight lifting to get me back into the active lifestyle that I thrived on when I was younger that somehow got lost in the shuffle of day to day responsibilities and work.

I do agree. Use it or lose it is a good adage to remember.
My dilemma is finding enough time in the day to do all I want to do.

It is a shame that sleep is as important as activity.

It maybe that time makes us use only what we need.

There is so much knowledge to be had. How do you determine what you spend your time on that is considered important to know and use and what is not?

Maybe as we get older what we see as necessary is less or we just focus on the things that are needed day to day because we wise up to many of the external controls on our lives that we no longer want.

__________________
"21st century man is not conquered by guns, nor by oppression, but by seduction."

"Pride to the human heart is like lard to the pig." Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

"The best punch is the one that is both first, last, and ends the fight."