How physical activity helps muscles produce energy researchers find new process

New Delhi, Dec 9 (PTI) Researchers have identified a new process thought which physical exercise triggers the production of energy in muscles, even in those with genetic errors.
     Researchers said the results, published in the journal Nature Communications, could pave the way for treating disorders affecting one's muscles, such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease.
     "We have identified a new, important mechanism for energy production of the muscle cells and shown that it is activated by physical exercise -- regardless of age, gender and state of health," Lykke Sylow, an associate professor at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and corresponding author of the paper describing the findings, said.
     The team showed that a protein, vital to the newly discovered process and named 'SLIRP', played a key role in producing energy, which is known to occur in cells' energy factory -- the mitochondria.
     They further found that through fitness, or aerobic, training, the SLIRP protein's role in energy production could be dodged.
     "Our research shows that exercise can counteract genetic errors in muscular energy production. If this (SLIRP) protein is missing, exercise can activate alternative processes which recreate the muscle's energy capacity and circumvent the genetic error," first author, Tang Cam Phung Pham, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Copenhagen, said.
     The results showed how useful exercise can be in overcoming genetic errors, Cam Phung Pham said.
     The study could help develop a drug that mimics the health benefits of physical training in people who are unable to exercise, according to Sylow.
     "It opens up the possibility of developing new treatments for more than 200 different disorders related to defects in the muscles' energy production," Sylow said.
     "This includes rare mitochondrial genetic disorders as well as more common diseases such as diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease and neurodegenerative disorders -- in which (a) lower muscle function is associated with increased mortality," the corresponding author said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)