Translational Control: Implications for Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophy

Skeletal muscle hypertrophy is characterized, in part, by increases in protein mass per fiber. This increased accumulation of protein results from a net increase in protein synthesis relative to breakdown. Increases in rates of protein synthesis (translation) have been reported across different models of resistance exercise and across all species studied. However, although an increase in protein synthesis after exercise is reported commonly, the mechanisms underlying this response are not understood clearly. Therefore, the aim of the current review was to select areas of research within which translational control has been well-studied. The logic is that the mechanisms described in this review have the potential to contribute to the changes seen in protein synthesis after high-resistance exercise. The field of translational control has seen rapid growth in the past 5 to 10 years and although attempts have been made to include all contributing studies, apologies are given from the start because many have undoubtedly been overlooked.