Definition: "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance "
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14.06.2013 |
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Research on myostatin inhibitor ACE-031 stopped – but the stuff does work
Injectable ACE-031 – an underground example is shown above – is a synthetic activin receptor type IIB. Muscle cells have this receptor too: it's intended for proteins like myostatin, GDF11 and activin A and B. If myostatin attaches itself to an activin receptor type IIB, then the growth of muscle fibres is inhibited. Under the 'right' conditions myostatin actually breaks down muscle.
If you inject ACE-031 this doesn't happen at all. The synthetic activin receptor type IIB filters out the muscle inhibiting proteins and deactivates them.
But the single injection did lead to muscle growth. The 3-mg/kg dose led to an increase in muscle of volume of 5 percent, it boosted lean body mass by 3 percent [just over a kilogram], and seemed to also reduce fat mass.
The injection reduced the leptin concentration and boosted that of adiponectin. This would suggest that ACE-031 breaks down fat mass.
Moreover, the myostatin inhibitor boosted the concentration of bone specific alkaline phosphatase [BSAP] in the blood and reduced that of C-terminal type 1 collagen telopeptide [CTX]. This would suggest that ACE-031 strengthens bones. Acceleron has demonstrated these effects in animal studies using RAP-031, the mouse variant of ACE-031. [Endocrinology. 2010 Sep; 151(9): 4289-300.]
The answer is in a post on the website of the Muscular Dystrophy Association. [quest.mda.org May 2, 2013] This describes a trial [NCT01099761] performed in 2011 in which researchers gave ACE-031 to children with muscular dystrophy. During the trial side effects emerged and the researchers had to stop the study.
"The adverse events that the trial participants experienced — minor nose and gum bleeding and dilation of blood vessels in the skin — were not, in and of themselves, considered dangerous. However, the companies and regulatory agencies involved say they need to fully understand these events before continuing clinical studies of ACE-031."
Some other strange side effects also came to light in the study published in Muscle & Nerve. ACE-031 caused the concentration of FSH in the women subjects to plummet. How this happened, and what the effects of this might be, the researchers don't know.
Research on MYO-029, Wyeth's myostatin blocker, is not going anywhere either. In 2008 disappointing results of a trial with MYO-029 were published, in which adults with muscular dystrophy gained no strength at all. [Ann Neurol. 2008 May; 63(5): 561-71.] After that Wyeth stopped developing MYO-029.
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