Scientists Put Exercise In A Pill

To supplement these drugs we are going to need pills that plant memories of a cross-country hike or perhaps memories of a river rafting trip. Two compounds make mice boost their treadmill performance. While GW1516 enhances the effects of exercise AICAR eliminates the need. Time to tune in, turn on, and drop exercise pills.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have identified two drugs that mimic many of the physiological effects of exercise. The drugs increase the ability of cells to burn fat and are the first compounds that have been shown to enhance exercise endurance. Both drugs can be given orally and work by genetically reprogramming muscle fibers so they use energy better and can contract repeatedly without fatigue. In laboratory experiments, mice taking the drugs ran faster and longer than normal mice on treadmill tests. Animals that were given AICAR, one of the two drugs, ran 44 percent longer than untreated animals. The second compound, GW1516, had a more dramatic impact on endurance, but only when combined with exercise. Ronald M. Evans, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator who led the study, said drugs that mimic exercise could offer potent protection against obesity and related metabolic disorders. They could also help counter the effects of devastating muscle-wasting diseases like muscular dystrophy. Evans and his colleagues, who are at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, published their findings on July 31, 2008, in an advance online publication in the journal Cell. Concerned about the potential for abuse of the two performance-enhancing drugs, Evans has also developed a test to detect the substances in the blood and urine of athletes who may be looking for way to gain an edge on the competition.

Exercise will still be needed for the development of better coordination. But cardiovascular conditioning and muscle build-up really shouldn't take so much time out of our busy lives. Besides, why use real exercise when drugs can do a better job of making your body fit?

After four weeks of treatment with AICAR, Evans and his colleagues once again challenged sedentary mice to run on the treadmill. They found that mice that had received AICAR were able to run 44 percent longer than untreated mice. "This is a drug that is like pharmacological exercise," Evans says. "After four weeks of receiving the drug, the mice were behaving as if they'd been exercised." In fact, he says, those that got the drug actually ran longer and further than animals that received exercise training.

Read the full article if you are curious about the mechanisms of action of these drugs.