10 mg of Exercise minus the Exercise

Can you imagine one day being prescribed a pill that accomplishes the equivalent of thirty minutes of running or cardiovascular exercise. All this, without the sweat and pain? Seems too good to be true. But researchers may be one step closer to developing a pill that could be the answer to America's Obesity epidemic.

Scientists at the Salk Institute recently published a paper in Cell, reporting they had discovered 2 pills, Aicar and GW1516, that may be potential drug candidates. These drugs work by increasing endurance of mice that have been genetically engineered to be coach potatoes.

By examining mouse performance on treadmill, researchers have been able to demonstrate these drugs drastically increased mouse endurance. The findings were discussed in a recent New York Time’s Article titled Drugs Offer Promise of Fitness.

“One drug, known as Aicar, increased the mice’s endurance on a treadmill by 44 percent after just four weeks of treatment. A second drug, GW1516, supercharged the mice to a 75 percent increase in endurance, but had to be combined with exercise to have any effect.”

The drugs activate production of Type 1 muscle fibers, which contain a higher concentration of mitochondria, which produce energy during exercise. There are also

Type 2 muscle fiber, which do not contain as many mitochondria. Highly trained athletes have a higher number of Type 1 fibers, which allows them to perform at optimal levels—running marathons, swimming laps, cycling up steep hills, etc. For individuals with decrease fitness level, ie: coach potatoes, a great number of Type 2fibers are expected and a lower number of Type 1 fibers are present, which explains why such individuals tire easily when perform physical exercise.

The main investigator, Dr. Ronald M. Evans, has linked the increased Type 1 muscle production to a specific pathway—the PPAR-delta pathway, which has been linked to activates fat-burning processes in the body.

Dr. Evans may have discovered a potential therapeutic target. Pharmacy companies may soon be eying his discovery as a panacea to the solve a plethora of problems. If a drug was developed, it may be useful to help in treating obese or diabetic patients, who would not be otherwise able to reap the benefits of exercise.

Dr. Evans believes that “This is not just a free lunch, it’s pushing your genome toward a more enhanced genetic tone that impacts metabolism and muscle function. So instead of inheriting a great set-point you are using a drug to move your own genetics to a more activated metabolic state.”

It’s interesting how scientist are beginning to understand the complexities that lie in our bodies. Dr. Evan’s discovery gets to the molecular basis of muscle production and exercise. His research may have found a way to trick our mice into thinking they are actually exercising. I wonder if that same trick could work in humans. It will be interesting to see where this research goes.

For more information:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/01/science/01muscle.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin#