Stem cell discovery could restore muscle loss

Researchers show the Mesenchymal stem cells may create new muscle fibers. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

CHAMPAIGN – University of Illinois researchers may have discovered the stem cell that causes muscle growth.

Marni Boppart, a professor of kinesiology, says her team’s research shows that Mesenchymal stem cells are responsive after exercise. She says they may indirectly create new muscle fibers. Her findings could lead to new therapeutic treatments to restore muscle loss or prevent muscles worn by age.

“There’s nothing we can do to totally prevent the process. We think that by utilizing the process that we can slow the process down.”

It could also lead to increased muscle growth for people who are already healthy such as weightlifters and athletes, Boppart says.

“Which would help with the, you know, tissue building within, say the blood vessels or the brain or within the bone,” Boppart says.

You can read the report here.