Muscles that have been repeatedly injured and healed develop a regenerative memory that makes them tougher than they were to begin with.
Frequent injuries are usually associated with long-term wear and tear that weakens the body over time. Healthy mice subjected to cycles of damage actually built muscle tissue that was more mechanically resilient. This process creates a cellular memory that optimizes the repair machinery for future incidents. The regenerated muscle fibers are better at resisting physical stress than original tissue. This finding could help athletes optimize training or help doctors develop better recovery protocols for chronic muscle conditions.
Trained to repair: repeated muscle injury imprints a ‘healthy regenerative memory’
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Abstract In healthy skeletal muscle, eccentric exercise confers protection against damage during subsequent bouts; the repeated bout effect. Repeated cycles of degeneration and regeneration drive pathological remodelling during ageing and in neuromuscular diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Whether repeated injury in healthy muscle drives cumulative degradation or encodes a beneficial state remains unresolved. We tested whether repeated muscle injury and regeneration produce a mechanic