TOO busy to go for a run? One day you might be able to build endurance just by popping a pill.
of the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, has discovered two compounds that turn ordinary mice into long-distance runners, and that one of them works even if the mice don鈥檛 exercise beforehand. If they have the same effect in people, the compounds may one day be used to fight obesity, by increasing fat metabolism. Evans fears, though, that they could be abused by athletes.
His team trained mice on a treadmill and for half of them paired training with doses of a compound, WG1516. This activates a gene that causes cells to burn extra fat and make more mitochondria 鈥� the cell鈥檚 power-producing structures. When tested on endurance, those that had taken the compound jogged longer and further than the mice that did not (Cell, ). Their muscles also boasted more 鈥渟low-twitch鈥� fibres, which are important for endurance.
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In a second experiment, mice with no prior treadmill training were injected with a different compound, AICAR. This encourages the production of muscle fuel, and enabled mice to run about 44 per cent longer than untreated mice. 鈥淭his is the couch potato experiment,鈥� says Evans.
