Researchers identify muscle endurance enhancer

Researchers led by scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies suggested that peroxisome proliferation activated receptor (PPAR) delta may be a therapeutic target in metabolic diseases and dystrophies, as well as an enhancer of athletic performance. The researchers published results in Cell Metabolism showing that treatment with a PPARδ agonist significantly increased running time in a mouse model, even without endurance training.

PPARδ is a known regulator of fatty acid metabolism in muscle cells, but prior studies suggested that PPARδ activation must be combined with daily exercise to enhance endurance. The new study's authors found that by increasing treatment time from four to eight weeks, daily training was not necessary to increase running time by about 1.5 hours compared to untreated animals...