"Muscle Memory" Not Mediated By Myonuclear Number?: Secondary Analysis of Human Detraining Data
Abstract
In the June 2019 issue of the Journal of Applied Physiology, Psilander and coworkers (12) published a challenging investigation that sought to determine whether “muscle memory” in humans could be explained by the long-term maintenance of myonuclei acquired during hypertrophy. The Gundersen laboratory introduced the concept of myonuclear number conferring muscle memory in 2010 based on work in rodents that underwent synergist ablation overload followed by denervation (1), which has received considerable attention, extending to the lay press (3a). In brief, it is thought that myonuclei acquired from satellite cell fusion during hypertrophic growth remain after detraining when the muscle returns to its pretraining state. If one were to retrain, the need to acquire new myonuclei during hypertrophy would already be met by the previous training stimulus, and growth would proceed more rapidly. The previously acquired myonuclei would serve as a “muscle memory” of prior adaptation. Psilander et al. (12) put forth a tremendous effort to determine whether muscle memory is mediated by myonuclear number, and should be commended for attempting to translate their results from rodent models to humans. Too often, researchers stop short of trying to validate a mechanism in humans, and more work such as this must be undertaken to fully understand skeletal muscle adaptations to exercise. In brief, their study design involved evaluating myonuclear density and muscle size before resistance…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a secondary / pooled analysis, done in animal, not in people. Its evidence level is 5 of 5 (Very low · case / narrative / animal / in vitro / in silico). Case reports, narrative reviews, and animal, cell or computer-model studies give the weakest evidence for human health. Reported size: 19 participants or records.
Read the paper
Related studies
- In silico strategies for modeling RNA aptamers and predicting binding sites of their molecular targets
- Folic acid-hydrophilic polymer coated mesoporous silica nanoparticles target doxorubicin delivery
- Anti-phytopathogenic and plant growth promoting potential of endophytic fungi isolated from Dysoxylum gotadhora
- Mercury toxicity causes iron and sulfur deficiencies along with oxidative injuries in alfalfa (Medicago sativa)
- Suppression of lncRNA GAS6-AS2 alleviates sepsis-related acute kidney injury through regulating the miR-136-5p/OXSR1 axis in vitro and in vivo
- Assessing the Protective Effect of Moringa oleifera Extract against Bone Metastasis: An In Vitro Simulated Digestion Approach
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.