Brian Wainstein of Genxxl on The Science of Muscle Memory

On August 16, 2010, as reported in Iron Magazine and Wired Science, researchers at the University of Oslo in Norway presented a report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences examining the science of how muscles retain a form of memory.


Muscle cells are huge and past research has shown that they have the potential to grow even larger with regular exercise melding with a stem cell found inside the muscle fiber itself. Kristian Gunderson, leader of the Oslo research group, in presenting the muscle research, explained that the memory is stored in the muscle’s DNA.


Brian Wainstein of Genxxl on The Science of Muscle Memory: Previously, Gunderson explained, researchers thought when muscles atrophied from lack of use or exercise that the DNA stored in the muscle’s nuclei would become lost. The muscle would "forget" how to operate and the patient or athlete would lose his or her strength, agility, or level of fitness previously achieved.


The "forgetting" was termed apoptosis, a sort of cell death march. The new report, though, demonstrates that the extra nuclei, in fact, are not lost, enabling a muscle to regain its former shape after retraining.


According to Wired Science, "Gundersen’s team simulated the effect of working out by making a muscle that helps lift the toes work harder in mice. As the muscle worked, the number of nuclei increased, starting on day six. Over the course of 21 days, the hard-working muscle increased the number of nuclei in each fiber cell by about 54 percent. Starting on day nine, the muscle cells also started to plump up, adding an extra 35 percent to their volume."


The results indicate that, over the course of time and through hard work, the body’s muscles can add nuclei needed to gain muscle mass.


The Oslo research team tested their "muscle memory" theory by severing the mice’s nerves leading to the bulked-up muscles so atrophy would occur. Indeed, as the muscles became atrophied, the cells within decreased by about 60% yet the amount of nuclei embedded in muscles remained unchanged.


Brian Wainstein of Genxxl on The Science of Muscle Memory: Why Is that Important?


While apoptosis – cell death – did settle-in to the atrophied muscles, the muscle fibers themselves remained undamaged. According to Gunderson, the muscle nuclei could stay intact up to three months in a mouse’s body, with wide ranging implications for humans.


"I don’t know if it lasts forever," Gunderson said in his report, "but it seems to be a very long-lasting effect.


"Since the extra nuclei don’t die, they could be poised to make muscle proteins again, providing a type of muscle memory."


The report resonated with some in the scientific community such as Bengt Saltin, a muscle physiologist from the University of Copenhagen who called the study, "fascinating thinking," while Lawrence Schwartz, from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, remarked that, "their data just feels right."


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