Protein metabolism in rat gastrocnemius muscle after stimulated chronic concentric exercise

Previous results by use of a model of resistance exercise consisting of nonvoluntary electrical contraction of rat skeletal muscle have shown that significant gastrocnemius muscle enlargement was produced after 16 wk of chronic concentric resistance training with progressively increased weights but not after the same training program without weights (J. Appl. Physiol. 65: 950-954, 1988). In the present study we examined whether this differential effect on muscle mass between high- and low-resistance exercise is mediated through differential actions on muscle protein synthesis rates. In addition, we determined whether accumulation of specific mRNA quantities had a primary role in the protein synthesis response to this type of exercise. The data revealed that as little as 8 min of total contractile duration increased gastrocnemius protein synthesis rates by nearly 50%. Contrary to our hypothesis, post-exercise protein synthesis rates do not appear to be differentially regulated by the resistance imposed on the muscle during exercise but rather by the number of repetitions performed during the acute bout. This observation, the failure of high-frequency chronic training to produce gastrocnemius enlargement, and the relatively minor effects on mRNA levels collectively suggest that translational and posttranslational mechanisms, including protein degradation, may be the principal processes by which gastrocnemius protein expression is regulated in this model of stimulated concentric exercise.