Myofilament - Other Areas of Research

Other Areas of Research

Other promising areas of research that may illumine the exact molecular nature of exercise-induced protein remodeling in muscle may be the study of related proteins involved with cell architecture, such as desmin & dystrophin. These proteins are thought to provide the cellular scaffolding necessary for the actin-myosin complex to undergo contraction. Research on desmin revealed that its presence increased greatly in a test group exposed to resistance training, while there was no evidence of desmin increase with endurance training. According to this study, there was no detectable increase in dystrophin in resistance or endurance training. It may be that exercise-induced myofilament alterations involve more than the contractile proteins actin & myosin.

While the research on muscle fiber remodeling is on-going, there are generally accepted facts about the myofilament from the American College of Sports Medicine. It is thought that an increase in muscle strength is due to an increase in muscle fiber size, not an increase in number of muscle fibers and myofilaments. However, there is some evidence of animal satellite cells differentiating into new muscle fibers and not merely providing a support function to muscle cells.