University of Michigan researchers have determined that the class of proteins known as Sestrins mimic the effects of exercise in mice and flies.
The findings could eventually help scientists combat muscle wasting due to aging and other causes.
Flies with increased levels of Sestrin showed increased endurance vs flies without it. Mice without the ability to produce Sestrin did not gain the improved aerobic capacity, respiration, and fat burning that those with it did when exercised.
For three weeks, researchers used a kind of treadmill to train Drosophila flies, which will instinctively attempt to climb up and out of a test tube.
when they overexpressed Sestrin in the muscles of normal flies, essentially maxing out their Sestrin levels, they found those flies had abilities above and beyond the trained flies, even without exercise. In fact, flies with overexpressed Sestrin didn't develop more endurance when exercised.
Additionally it was determined that
Sestrin can also help prevent atrophy in a muscle that's immobilized, such as the type that occurs when a limb is in a cast for a long period of time. "This independent study again highlights that Sestrin alone is sufficient to produce many benefits of physical movement and exercise," said [professor Jun Hee Lee.]
The first question that comes to mind for some may be whether Sestrin might one day come in a handy pill form. Unfortunately Sestrins are large molecules not well suited to supplements, however the team is "working to find small molecule modulators of Sestrin."
Journal Reference:
Myungjin Kim, Alyson Sujkowski, Sim Namkoong, Bondong Gu, Tyler Cobb, Boyoung Kim, Allison H. Kowalsky, Chun-Seok Cho, Ian Semple, Seung-Hyun Ro, Carol Davis, Susan V. Brooks, Michael Karin, Robert J. Wessells, Jun Hee Lee. Sestrins are evolutionarily conserved mediators of exercise benefits. Nature Communications, 2020; 11 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-13442-5
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday January 16 2020, @10:56PM (2 children)
Appearing as oral supplements at a GNC near you in 3... 2... 1...
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Funny) by krishnoid on Thursday January 16 2020, @11:29PM
Already available! [gotfuturama.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 17 2020, @12:50AM
And marketed by the big Hurt
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 16 2020, @11:14PM (8 children)
Eat three Big Macs then pop a handful of exercise pills.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by takyon on Thursday January 16 2020, @11:20PM (2 children)
They could just put it in the burger.
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(Score: 1) by Sulla on Thursday January 16 2020, @11:46PM
Only if we call them diet burgers
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 3, Touché) by JoeMerchant on Thursday January 16 2020, @11:46PM
No, they're going to put it in the cows to bulk them up faster (more cost effective you know, gotta keep the price of Big Macs down and the profit margins up), so you'll be getting it in your burgers anyway - just like the BGH and antibiotics that are already there.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by theluggage on Friday January 17 2020, @12:08AM (1 child)
Can I get the Big Mac in pill form too, please? Then I can cut straight to the "why the fuck did I just eat that bland MSG-flavoured shit?" remorse without all that tedious chewing.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday January 17 2020, @08:09AM
All burgers should have some MSG added.
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(Score: 3, Funny) by DrkShadow on Friday January 17 2020, @12:40AM (1 child)
Unfortunately the protein is too large to be absorbed orally.
This supplement will come only in the form of a suppository, ready for American consumption.
(Score: 4, Funny) by sjames on Friday January 17 2020, @05:57AM
To be fair, that's probably the safest way to consume the Big Mac as well.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday January 17 2020, @03:51AM
Ummm.... is that... errr... is it really better? I wonder.
Anyway, I had to see it written down first, sorry for the compulsion.
(grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Barenflimski on Friday January 17 2020, @12:04AM (5 children)
I am clearly Sestrin deficient. I always knew my body was wrong. Now I can force it to equate exercising my eyes and brain to moving the rest of my body. And all of this with a pill?! Aint technology something!
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday January 17 2020, @02:53AM (4 children)
TFS states clearly:
You also have to ask: do you really think you've got the physiology of a mouse? Or a fruit fly? I mean, mice are mammals, it will probably work on human physiology... probably...
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Friday January 17 2020, @09:05AM
Well, it should work for mousy people, shouldn't it? :-)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by stretch611 on Friday January 17 2020, @11:03AM (1 child)
Heck,
If I can keep my fat ass sitting in front of a computer longer and be even healthier, I would be willing to use it as an injectable assuming pills are not a thing yet.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday January 17 2020, @03:43PM
https://soylentnews.org/~takyon/journal/3955 [soylentnews.org]
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 17 2020, @01:33PM
It seems that if it works for both mice and fruit flies that it is a pretty broadly affecting molecule.
So... yes?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 17 2020, @01:08AM (3 children)
Athletes combine it with steroids?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 17 2020, @02:21AM (1 child)
Athletic competitions could add a new "top fuel" class without drug testing. If you want to compete in a classical/ethical competition you take the pee tests and stay clean, if you want to dope there is a class for that too.
The doped-up class would probably draw more spectators...and some would even claim they liked watching athletes jumping higher and cycling faster (etc). But the real draw would be the high death rate during competition. See for example Tommy Simpson https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Simpson [wikipedia.org]
The top fuel class is not my idea, heard this at a conference in the late 1980s.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 18 2020, @05:03PM
Drug manufacturer sponsorship logos on their uniforms? If there is room of course.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday January 17 2020, @08:13AM
What happens when athletes take anti-aging therapies, get organ replacements, get limb replacements, get infused with a superior blood substitute, etc.?
Athleticism is dead.
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