Prepared by – Suzanne Abou Said Daou Exercise induces a number of physiological adaptations that have beneficial effects in the prevention and treatment of chronic metabolic diseases. Unfortunately, exercise compliance is extremely low and often not possible to certain subjects. Generally, when we exercise, many molecular processes occur; and the continuous research is helping in the comprehensive knowledge of the good outcome that exercise does for our bodies, and specifically this involves about 1,000 different different molecular changes in our muscles during even a short bout of physical exertion according to data gathered from many studiesand published in the October 2nd published study in Trends in Pharmacological Sciences The Scientists from Canada and China ponder whether such pills, by reviewing several studies that had attempted to develop such pill over the course of the past several years, and if they will achieve their potential therapeutic impact at least in the near future. Clearly, it’s a complicated process, suggesting that creating a pill mimicking all the cellular activity involving the 1000 molecular changes is a major undertaking. But the development of exercise science and molecular techniques has increased the understanding of the molecular pathways responsive to exercise. Most traditional drugs target individual molecules; including multiple molecules, maybe including entire pathways of molecules working together. “Everyone’s looking for a pill to replace exercise, but we’re just not there yet,” says the first study’s co-author Ismail Laher, professor in the department of anesthesiology, pharmacology and therapeutics at the University of British Columbia in Canada. So-called “exercise pills” are made from compounds that have been shown—mostly in studies done in animals—to mimic one or more of the effects of exercise, like developing new blood vessels, forming new mitochondria in cells or increasing the body’s capacity for exercise. “They’ll let you get muscles that are stronger and faster and reach your exercise goals much quicker,” Laher says. Researchers categorized current candidate exercise pills that mimic the biochemical and functional effects of regular exercise into 3 categories, pharmacological agonists such as ERR agonist and Compound 14 as well as others, hormones such as Irisin, and phytochemicals such as Epicatechin and Resveratrol . Earlier this year, scientists from UK pinpointed a certain molecule known as “compound 14,or AMPK agonist” which regulates metabolism in a way that makes people lose weight without working out; this pill works by setting off a chemical reaction that ultimately tricks cells via metabolic pathways into thinking they have run low on energy by blocking certain reaction; this in consequence causes The cells try to make up for the feigned energy loss by speeding up metabolism and increasing glucose uptake, ultimately burning more sugar in the body to create energy. The study concerning compound 14, by Dr Ali Tavassoli and colleagues was published in the journal Chemistry and Biology, the researchers found that activating of a certain molecule (AMPK) with compound 14 led to a reduction in fasting blood glucose levels, improved glucose tolerance and, at the same time, promoted weight loss in obese mice. “There is a lot of evidence from previous studies that if you could selectively activate AMPK with a small molecule, it could have potential benefits in the treatment of several diseases, including type 2 diabetes, by acting as an exercise mimetic and increasing the uptake and usage of glucose and oxygen by cells,” said the study’s lead author Dr. Ali Tavassoli, a chemical biology professor, in a press release. “Our molecule, which activates AMPK by altering cellular metabolism, therefore holds much promise as a potential therapeutic agent”. The real promise of exercise pills is not to replace exercise, Laher says, but to help people who have reduced muscle ability due to paralysis, obesity, and stroke or spinal cord injuries. For those who aren’t physically able to exercise, the hope is that they can recover more muscle control when they use pills alongside physical therapy. In conclusion, there’s a fact that the scientists have stated that a pill won’t be able to impact the body in the wide variety of ways that exercise does, as physical activity influences nearly every single bodily system, from digestion to cardiovascular health. The drugs currently in development focus primarily on boosting cellular metabolism, increasing glucose uptake, and turning white fat into brown fat. But these are only partial effects of physical activity, as the others include a sharpened sense of focus, flexibility in muscles, and even protection from depression. Sources: cell metabolism journal, medical daily, medicalnewstoday, the scientist, time magazine, etc… Photo source: http://factor-tech.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/exercise-pill.jpg
