Molecular Mechanisms of Striated Muscle Hypertrophy 585

Abstract

Hypertrophy of skeletal and cardiac muscle is a prominent feature of exercise training-induced adaptation. Since force production of striated muscle is related to cross-sectional area of functional muscle, the magnitude and nature of muscle hypertrophy directly influences the ability of muscle to perform work. Understanding the mechanisms of striated muscle hypertrophy may lead to new therapeutic strategies aimed at modulating the magnitude and nature of hypertrophic muscle growth. The purpose of this symposium is to focus on intracellular signalling and gene regulation mechanisms that are responsible for hypertrophic growth. Recent technical advances on many fronts have opened exciting new avenues through which to pursue the question of how increasing the workload of muscle (i.e. exercise) results in cell growth. The symposium brings together researchers whose work focusses on intracellular signalling and gene regulation in cardiac and skeletal muscle. Each of the speakers will summarize his most recent work in this area, with the goal of generating discussion that will raise new questions to be pursued by basic scientists in exercise physiology.