Do you want to increase the number of your muscle stem cells: then get out there and run
- Image by Lost Albatross via Flickr
Sure you do, for by increasing the number of your muscle stem cells your muscles are better able to repair themselves. A new research study published in PLOS ONE tested rodents running for 20 minutes a day (moderate intensity), which is not that much in rodents, done over a 13 week time period increased muscle satellite cells, which are muscle stem cells.
In younger rodents they found that running increased the number of muscle stem cells by 20-35%. But even more impressive, and I was surprised at, was that in older animals (middle aged) there was a 33-47% increase.
Now the more impressive gains in the older running animals compared to their equally aged matched non-running groups is likely due to the older animals started at a lower level due to age. As the older non-running animals only had 1/3 the number of muscle stem cells as their younger non-running counterparts. This suggest that training is more important for older subjects and has greater benefits in terms of increasing the number of muscle stem cells in older animals.
There still is the open question if this increase in muscle stem cells also occurs in humans, but there are so many other reasons for all of us to be exercising that you might want to assume it is true if it increases your motivation to get out there and exercise.
What will these extra muscle stem cells do for you is a question you might be asking. Normally these muscle stem cells are in a ‘quiet’ state but after you exercise (or other mild/moderate damage), which is a form of muscle damage, they first become ‘activated’ then start proliferating as myoblasts before differentiating into muscles (myocytes). These new muscles therefore repair the muscle system and hopefully make them better prepared for the next bout of exercise. Therefore, having more of these muscle stem cells around would likely make the muscles more quickly repair and therefore able to function in a full state sooner compared to having less muscle stem cells.
Also it would it be interesting to see what the results would be with sprint like training (see these series of posts: sprint training, interval training, 4 minute a day of sprint training), or some type of weight training routine.
Bottom line: get out there and exercise and increase the number of muscle stem cells you have.
