Muscle metabolism involves breaking down nutrients for energy and building muscle mass. Skeletal muscles use muscle anabolism to increase mass and muscle catabolism to decrease it. Different biochemicals are used depending on the type of muscle fiber and whether mass is increasing or decreasing.
Muscle metabolism is an umbrella term used to describe the complex biochemical reactions involved in muscle function and development. The body takes in nutrients to provide energy, which must be broken down by different bodily systems to replicate cells, remove waste, fight infection, and perform other processes necessary for life. In regards to muscles, various amino acids, carbohydrates and lipids need to be broken down in order to be used as energy or produced by muscle cells to build healthy muscle mass. Collectively, these processes are called muscle metabolism.
Humans have three different types of muscle systems: cardiac, smooth, and skeletal muscles. Each of these muscle systems serves a different purpose and, therefore, has slightly different requirements for function and development. Discussions of muscle metabolism, however, most often refer to the skeletal muscle system. Skeletal muscles are attached to bones and are responsible for locomotion. The building of skeletal muscle mass is known as muscle anabolism, while the loss of muscle mass is known as muscle catabolism.
To more accurately understand the processes involved in muscle metabolism, it is first necessary to understand the general principles of metabolism. In short, when an individual eats food, the body uses a sequence of enzymes to break down the food into various chemical components and send them along metabolic pathways. These metabolic pathways are similar to highways, carrying raw chemical components to each body system for further processing. Once each system receives these raw chemicals, it selects certain molecules to use as energy, while other molecules are used to create new chemicals or new cells. Catabolism refers to the breaking down of molecules to release energy, while anabolism refers to using molecules as building blocks.
All muscles, including skeletal, cardiac, and smooth muscles, use some form of muscle metabolism to release energy, form new muscle cells, and remove wastes or toxins. For skeletal muscle, the specific process and biochemicals used in each process vary. What chemicals are used and the steps involved are based on the type of muscle fiber and whether muscle mass is increasing or decreasing.
Increasing skeletal muscle mass, for example, requires adding more muscle cells to thicken each fiber or develop more muscle fibers. Realizing this means that individual muscle cells must, through physical activity and various biochemical reactions, reduce myostatin and increase cytokines, the hormones responsible for regulating muscle growth. Additionally, amino acids, carbohydrates and lipids are used for energy and as building blocks to produce more muscle cells. Alternatively, if myostatin increases, cytokine decreases, or if there are insufficient carbohydrates, amino acids, or lipids, muscle metabolism works in reverse to thin or reduce the number of muscle fibers.
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