Molecular Regulation of Exercise-Induced Muscle Fiber Hypertrophy
- 1Department of Cell, Developmental, and Integrative Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama 35294
- 2UAB Center for Exercise Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama 35205
- 3Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center, Veterans’ Affairs Medical Center, Birmingham, Alabama 35233
- 4Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of California Irvine, Irvine, California 92617
- Correspondence: mbamman{at}uab.edu
Abstract
Skeletal muscle hypertrophy is a widely sought exercise adaptation to counteract the muscle atrophy of aging and disease, or to improve athletic performance. While this desired muscle enlargement is a well-known adaptation to resistance exercise training (RT), the mechanistic underpinnings are not fully understood. The purpose of this review is thus to provide the reader with a summary of recent advances in molecular mechanisms—based on the most current literature—that are thought to promote RT-induced muscle hypertrophy. We have therefore focused this discussion on the following areas of fertile investigation: ribosomal function and biogenesis, muscle stem (satellite) cell activity, transcriptional regulation, mechanotransduction, and myokine signaling.
