An Introduction to the Molecular Mechanisms of Muscle Growth: The mTORC1 Signalling Pathway

Molecular exercise physiology is relatively young subfield within exercise physiology. The field has seen huge advances in the last few decades with the dawn of many new research methods, which have enabled exercise physiologists to examine what drives hypertrophy at the molecular level. This has relevance, since the weights you lift and the food you eat ultimately mediate hypertrophy through molecules (signal transduction). The muscle cells receive signals which are 'interpreted' by these cells and consequently lead to a gain or loss of muscle mass. These signals can vary from amino acid availability or energy availability in the form of glycogen or ATP to muscle contraction which is translated to electrochemical signals (mechanotransduction). A particularly important protein complex which appears to integrate a lot of these signals is the mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1). In this presentation, you will get an introduction to how mTORC1 is related to governing muscle mass and how the complex is regulated.