UC Irvine scientists uncover cellular mechanism behind muscle repair

Metabolic target could help combat effects of aging, injury and weight-loss drugs

2026-02-27

(Press-News.org) Irvine, Calif., Feb. 27, 2026 — Scientists at the University of California, Irvine’s School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences have discovered how muscle stem cells “flip a switch” to rebuild damaged muscle – a finding that could help address muscle loss linked to aging, injury and widely used weight-loss medications.

The study, published this week in Nature Metabolism, shows that muscle recovery is not just about protein or exercise. It depends on timing and how muscle cells use fuel.

Researchers learned that immediately after stress, muscle stem cells temporarily slow down energy production. Instead of burning glucose for energy, they reroute it into protective repair processes to produce antioxidants that reduce inflammation. Once repairs are complete, energy production ramps back up and new muscle fibers form and strengthen.

“Muscle metabolism isn’t simply about fueling growth; it’s about strategic recovery,” said Lauren Albrecht, UC Irvine assistant professor of pharmaceutical sciences and the study’s corresponding author. “We found that muscle stem cells actively change how they use nutrients to protect themselves first, then rebuild. That metabolic timing is critical.”

At the center of the discovery is an enzyme called PFKM, which helps control how cells process glucose. The team determined that cells deliberately reduce PFKM levels during early repair, creating a temporary metabolic pause. When PFKM returns, muscle building begins.

Importantly, the scientists showed that this process can be influenced. By supplying specific metabolic building blocks – nutrients that cells naturally produce later in recovery – they accelerated the transition from repair mode to growth mode in laboratory models.

The findings come as physicians and researchers grapple with increasing reports of lean muscle loss in patients using GLP-1-based weight-loss medications, as well as amid the broader challenge of age-related muscle decline.

“With the rapid rise of GLP-1 therapies and an aging population, preserving muscle mass has become a major health priority,” Albrecht said. “Our work identifies a metabolic checkpoint that could one day be targeted to help people recover muscle more effectively.”

The work combined advanced imaging, metabolic analysis and human muscle data to track how quickly these fuel changes occur, sometimes within minutes. Researchers from UCLA and Yale University also participated.

The study was supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, the National Cancer Institute, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

About the University of California, Irvine: Founded in 1965, UC Irvine is a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities and is ranked among the nation’s top 10 public universities by U.S. News & World Report. The campus has produced five Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UC Irvine has more than 36,000 students and offers 224 degree programs. It’s located in one of the world’s safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange County’s second-largest employer, contributing $7 billion annually to the local economy and $8 billion statewide. For more on UC Irvine, visit www.uci.edu.

Media access: Radio programs/stations may, for a fee, use an on-campus studio with a Comrex IP audio codec to interview UC Irvine faculty and experts, subject to availability and university approval. For more UC Irvine news, visit news.uci.edu. Additional resources for journalists may be found at https://news.uci.edu/media-resources.

END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Platform to map living brain noninvasively takes next big step

2026-02-27

HOUSTON – (Feb. 27, 2026) – Gene therapy has been successfully used to treat a number of diseases, including immune deficiencies, hereditary blindness, hemophilia and, recently, Huntington’s disease, a fatal neurological disorder. An advance reported in the journal Neuron adds to the technique’s growing track record of evidence supporting the view that it could unlock powerful, personalized therapies: Rice University bioengineer Jerzy Szablowski and collaborators in Vincent Costa’s lab at Emory University found that released markers of activity (RMAs) ⎯ engineered proteins designed to cross the blood-brain barrier and persist in the blood for ...

Stress-testing the Cascadia Subduction Zone reveals variability that could impact how earthquakes spread

2026-02-27

The Cascadia Subduction Zone is unusually quiet for a megathrust fault. Spanning more than 600 miles from Canada to California, the fault marks the convergence of the Juan de Fuca and North American plates. While other subduction zones produce sporadic rumblings as the plates scrape past each other, Cascadia shows very little seismic activity, fueling assumptions that the plates are locked together by friction. The subduction zone — miles offshore and deep underwater — is difficult to observe. Most data collection ...

We may be underestimating the true carbon cost of northern wildfires

2026-02-27

Wildfires in the northern boreal forests of Alaska, Canada, Scandinavia and Russia may be more damaging to the climate than previously thought, a new UC Berkeley-led study suggests. That’s because these fires don’t just burn through trees; they can also penetrate deep into the carbon-rich layers of soil underneath many boreal forests, releasing carbon that has been accumulating for hundreds or even thousands of years. These carbon-rich soils, also known as peat, are primarily found in the far north, where the cold, wet climate prevents vegetation from fully decomposing ...

Blood test predicts which bladder cancer patients may safely skip surgery

2026-02-27

Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers reported positive results from the trial, known as RETAIN-2, demonstrating that a response-adapted bladder-preservation approach involving neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy can be considered in select patients. The ctDNA blood test predicts metastatic risk, but not local recurrence, after bladder-sparing cancer treatment. Researchers said ctDNA could be used to help select patients likely to benefit from a bladder-sparing treatment approach. A combination of chemotherapy and immunotherapy allowed some patients to preserve ...

Kennesaw State's Vijay Anand honored as National Academy of Inventors Senior Member

2026-02-27

The National Academy of Inventors has selected Kennesaw State University Associate Professor of Information Technology Vijay Anand as a 2026 NAI Senior Member, in recognition of his innovative work in the cybersecurity field. NAI Senior Members are distinguished faculty, scientists, and administrators who have demonstrated success in patents, licensing, and commercialization. They develop technologies that have made, or have the potential to make, meaningful impacts on society. “Kennesaw State is proud of Dr. Anand’s selection to the NAI class of 2026 Senior Members,” Executive Vice President for Research Karin Scarpinato said. “This recognition ...

Recovery from whaling reveals the role of age in Humpback reproduction 

2026-02-27

New research from the University of St Andrews published today (27 February) in Current Biology, has shown that the role of age in male humpback whale reproduction has changed as populations recover from centuries of exploitation.   Whaling drove many large whale populations to the brink of extinction. But its legacy runs deeper than a drastic decline in numbers. Decades after commercial whaling ended, its impacts continue to shape whale populations, influencing not just how many whales there are, but which males get to reproduce.   The study assessed nearly two decades of data ...

Can the canny tick help prevent disease like MS and cancer?

2026-02-27

When the immune system detects a harmful or foreign agent it triggers an inflammatory response small proteins called chemokines direct immune cells to the site of the injury or infection, resulting in the invader being inactivated. More commonly known as a parasite, ticks are able to attach and draw blood off us, or our pets, without triggering an immune reaction, because they produce proteins called evasins, which attach to these chemokines preventing them from warning the immune system that it is under attack. These chemokines can also “turn bad” overstimulating the immune system ...

Newcomer children show lower rates of emergency department use for non‑urgent conditions, study finds

2026-02-27

Toronto, ON, February 27, 2026 — Refugee and immigrant children are less likely to visit the emergency department (ED) for minor illnesses (e.g., respiratory infections) compared to children born in Ontario, according to a new study from ICES and The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids). The study followed 458,597 children (113,098 refugee and immigrant children for the first four years after arrival to Canada and 345,499 Ontarian-born within the same period). The researchers found that refugee and immigrant children had more primary care visits for minor illnesses ...

Cognitive and neuropsychiatric function in former American football players

2026-02-27

About The Study: In this cross-sectional study of former American football players, prior American football participation was associated with worse later-life cognitive and neuropsychiatric function. These findings support a dose-response association with years and level of play, providing context to help clinicians and researchers assess the risk of symptoms among former players. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Michael L. Alosco, PhD, email malosco@bu.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit ...

From trash to climate tech: rubber gloves find new life as carbon capturers materials

2026-02-27

Every year, over 100 billion nitrile rubber gloves are produced. They are made from synthetic polymers—a material chemically related to plastic and derived from crude oil. The vast majority is used in the healthcare sector, and most are discarded after single use. This creates a massive amount of material waste globally. However, Simon Kildahl, a postdoc at the Department of Chemistry at Aarhus University, has moved a step closer to a way of recycling these gloves. In a new study published in the scientific journal CHEM, he and his colleagues demonstrate how they can transform ...

UC Irvine scientists uncover cellular mechanism behind muscle repair

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: