RibOSE - Effects of Glucose Ingestion During Resistance Exercise Training on Ribosomal Biogenesis in Skeletal Muscle

Muscular responses to resistance training vary extensively between humans, with many showing impaired growth. In such individuals, cellular plasticity is compromised, leading to reduced functional and health-beneficial outcomes of training. While this is likely due to a range of determinants, including epigenetic, genetic and physiological variables, recent studies suggest that it involves reduced ability to produce novel ribosomes in response to training. This eventually leads to less pronounced increases in protein synthesis, and thus decreased growth rates, and makes ribosomal content in muscle a potential proxy marker for training-associated muscle hypertrophy.

In a recent study, the investigators showed that increased resistance training volume was associated with more pronounced muscle growth, a trait that was associated with increased ribosomal biogenesis. Despite this, ~50 % of the participants did not exhibit true beneficial effects of increased training volume, which in turn coincided with reduced abilities to accumulate ribosomes. In such individuals, other means are likely necessary to circumvent the negative influence of genetic and epigenetic predispositions on muscle plasticity. Nutrient supplementation stand out as a potential therapy. However, at present, knowledge with regard to this perspective is limited to a selected few nutrients, with protein ingestion being the best studied potential adjuvant, for which adequate intake seems to be essential for achieving optimal muscle growth, potentially being interconnected with ribosomal synthesis. For other nutrients, such as glucose, little is know about their importance for muscle plasticity and ribosomal biogenesis.

In cell types such as cultivated kidney cells, exposure to high levels of glucose is an efficient mean to increase ribosomal biogenesis (and growth rates). This suggests that glucose is an important signaling molecule for increasing ribosomal production per se, perhaps acting as a ligand for signaling proteins or by acting to increase energy availability. In the human body (as opposed to cultured cells), glucose may also exert growth-stimulating effects by increasing insulin levels in blood. Overall, it thus seems plausible that glucose intake during resistance training may stimulate ribosomal biogenesis, in turn having beneficial effects for protein synthesis and muscle plasticity, perhaps acting in an additive manner to protein supplementation. At present, we do not know if this is the case, though studies have suggested that glucose ingestion during acute resistance training sessions may reduce training-induced muscle damage without affecting within-session work output (i.e. volume). This lack of knowledge is surprising given the long-standing appreciation of the beneficial effects of glucose intake for endurance performance, acting to delay muscular fatigue.