About the episode
In our body you will find slow muscle fibers that support movements for a long time and muscle fibers that can react very quickly, but can only support their movements for a short time.
For a long time it was thought that the relationship between the two types of muscle fibers in our body was already fixed at birth and that this could not be changed at a later age. But that doesn’t seem like it right now.
Japanese researchers have found that slow muscle fibers secrete a protein that tells the precursors of muscle fiber cells in the environment – you will also develop into slow muscle fibers. It was also possible to mimic this reaction in the laboratory, and this is desirable, according to the researchers.
According to them, this could mean that a treatment can be developed that can stimulate the formation of slow muscle fibers. For patients with type 2 diabetes or for people who can’t move much – either way muscle mass can be significantly reduced – this could make a big difference.
Read more: How slow muscle fibers convince their neighbors to join them.
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