Muscle Memory Gets A Whole New Meaning

As people work out their muscles start to get bigger. if they stop working out the muscles will shrink. for the longest time the major theory was that the muscle cells start to die, in turn lowering the amount of muscle mass. yet, new studies aim to prove that wrong. there is evidence that muscle cells don't just die off, but shrink. this would not only prove a widely believed theory wrong but it would also change how we live our lives.

The experiments that the scientists did to prove their idea were quite odd. they took mice to prove a muscle-related theory. the idea is that muscle cells don't die, but shrink into themselves. muscle cells are some of the largest in the human body, for this reason they need multiple nuclei to sustain the protein growth. as you work out the nuclei multiply then cause an influx of protein to make the muscle larger. they proved this by making the muscle that helps lift the toe of a mouse work harder. after 21 days the muscle increased the number of nuclei about 54 percent. the nuclei started to increase at day six and then at day nine the muscle started to get bigger. to prove that the muscle just gets smaller the scientists worked a mouse's muscle for two weeks, then cut the nerves so that the muscle would atrophy (get smaller). after the nerves were cut the muscle deflated 40 percent but the number of nuclei stayed the same.

These experiments have changed many things in the scientific world. for one people are starting to think that pro sports players that use steroids may always have an advantage over other people. this could change how long they are suspended from playing. not only that, but school systems might start making gym more difficult, the reason is that as you age you start to lose muscle mass. however, with these studies if you increase the amount of nuclei in your muscles at a young age you might not lose as much muscle when you are older.