Exercise pill

[Guest guest]

This article was on my Netscape browser news page. It's an intriguing

concept.

Alice

Researchers: Pill may someday replace exercise

Thursday, April 11, 2002

Pop a pill, get in shape.

That ultimate fantasy of the couch potato may become a reality some day,

according to researchers who have found the chemical pathways that

muscle cells use to build strength and endurance.

With this basic knowledge in hand, it now may be possible to develop a

pill that pumps up muscle cells without all that exercise, said Dr. R.

, dean of the Duke University of School of Medicine and

senior author of a study appearing Friday in the journal Science.

Does this mean sedentary people could build muscle by taking pills?

" That may be one of the possibilities, " said , but the main

target of the research is to promote the health of people with heart

disease or other conditions that keep them from doing enough exercise.

" This could lead to drugs that will let people get the health benefits

of regular exercise, even if they cannot exercise, " said . This

could help patients with heart or lung disease, or lower the risk of

Type II diabetes, for instance.

" It is possible it could become a drug of abuse because it would enhance

the performance of athletes, " he said.

In the study, and colleagues at the University of Texas

Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas created a group of mice with genes

that made a surplus of a protein called calmodulin-dependent protein

kinase, or CaMK. When this protein is activated, it and another protein,

calcineurin, trigger the physical changes that muscle cells undergo

after intense exercise.

said mice with a high level of CaMK developed more mitochondria

in muscle cells and saw an increase of a type of cell called the " slow

twitch " muscle. These are muscle cells that power sustained activity,

such as that required by marathon runners.

For " fast twitch " muscles, which provide a burst of strength for a short

period of time, there was an increase in the number of mitochondria.

The researchers found that mice with high levels of CaMK developed the

same healthy muscle cells as mice that did exercise.

" The effect increases more of the slow twitch muscles, but it also

increases the number of mitochondia in the fast twitch muscle cells, " he

said. " That is very similar to what happens in very intense training. "

Mitochondria are structures inside a cell that provide energy by

metabolizing oxygen and nutrition. Cells with many mitochondria can

produce more work over a longer time. Physical training increases the

number of mitochondria in muscle cells.

said a drug that would trigger the CaMK muscle signaling

pathway has not been found, but now that there is a specific target it

should made the development easier.

" Pharmaceutical companies are very good at that, " he said.

Dr. Keshav Singh of s Hopkins University School of Medicine said the

paper by and his group is an " important advancement in

understanding the mechanism that creates more mitochondria in muscles. "

" Since levels of mitochondrial proteins decrease with normal aging, this

study may also help develop therapies to increase the physical endurance

in the aged, " said Singh, who is a mitochondria researcher at Hopkins.

http://dailynews.netscape.com/dailynews/cnn/story_2.tmpl?story=20020411092550010\

85156 & shortdate=0411

[Guest guest]

Hello the House,

Interesting article Alice, I have always felt some day you would be able to pop

a pill or two and it would cure all and I don't think I was to far out in my

thinking. It's coming

E.

----- Original Message -----

From: Alice Rew

Sent: Thursday, May 09, 2002 10:49 PM

Subject: Exercise pill

This article was on my Netscape browser news page. It's an intriguing

concept.

Alice

http://dailynews.netscape.com/dailynews/cnn/story_2.tmpl?story=20020411092550010\

85156 & shortdate=0411