Séminaire de recherche autour du Prof Håkan Westerblad (Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm): “Ca2+ during fatigue and endurance training”

Recent studies in our laboratory reveal two Ca2+-dependent mechanisms: 1) Pharmacological treatment with a myofibrillar Ca2+ sensitizer markedly increases the fatigue resistance of skeletal muscle fibres. This effect is linked to decreased energy consumption when less Ca2+ back has to be pumped back into the sarcoplasmic reticulum. 2) Endurance training results in increased sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ leak, elevated baseline Ca2+, increased mitochondrial biogenesis, and improved endurance exercise performance. Effects similar to those induced by endurance training can be obtained by pharmacologically induced sarcoplasmic reticulum leak.