AMPK Activation: Good or Bad for Muscle?

[Bagofturdwind]

I’ve often thought of AMPK activation through supplementation as catabolic-inducing and negatively impacting mTOR, which should theoretically be negative for muscle growth. I understand these supplements are great for glucose metabolism, but I want to know whether they’re actually anabolic or catabolic / negative for protein synthesis and hypertrophy?

I’ve seen a few studies lately that found AMPK activating supplements have actually helped obese, diabetic and elderly patients GAIN more muscle mass and help attenuate the effects of sarcopenia. This just confused me a bit. Is it possible AMPK activation is beneficial for anabolism for some populations but negative for younger, healthier population?

Again, I’m not interested in the importance of AMPK activation for blood glucose reduction and fat loss. I’m looking for its direct impact on anabolism and muscle growth. Any insight to this would be awesome.

 

[Superload]

It does work against mtor HOWEVER...if you look at many of the current reaserch that's going on the general hypothesis going through is that there may be multiple pathways besides Mtor for muscle growth and as long as your training and nutrition it on point, I wouldn't solely think of Ampk activation as a preventative for muscle growth...for all we know it could be just 5% of 95% of muscle growths pathway ..so yes there are general health benefits to such products and I believe they will contribute to muscle growth and if your still worried they will harm your overall growth, just dose them away from your workouts

 

[Bagofturdwind]

It does work against mtor HOWEVER...if you look at many of the current reaserch that's going on the general hypothesis going through is that there may be multiple pathways besides Mtor for muscle growth and as long as your training and nutrition it on point, I wouldn't solely think of Ampk activation as a preventative for muscle growth...for all we know it could be just 5% of 95% of muscle growths pathway ..so yes there are general health benefits to such products and I believe they will contribute to muscle growth and if your still worried they will harm your overall growth, just dose them away from your workouts

Thanks for the response. I’m interested in this more from a biological POV than for personal use. What do we make of a study like the one below then that has a mix of negative and positive associations with AMPK activation but ultimately concludes AMPK, specially AMPKα2, induces a catabolic environment that can promote muscle atrophy?
https://res.mdpi.com/ijms/ijms-19-03125/article_deploy/ijms-19-03125.pdf?filename=&attachment=1

 

[Superload]

Your file isn't loading so I cant see what your pointing out but while ampk activation may promote a catabolic environment, you have to remember every time you train or eat a descent protein meal, your overriding that and atleast from a supplment perspective I dont see it being that harmful for overall growth on the grander scale of things...but maybe other form members can provide you with some other input?

 

[Bagofturdwind]

Your file isn't loading so I cant see what your pointing out but while ampk activation may promote a catabolic environment, you have to remember every time you train or eat a descent protein meal, your overriding that and atleast from a supplment perspective I dont see it being that harmful for overall growth on the grander scale of things...but maybe other form members can provide you with some other input?

Title of study is: The Role of AMPK in the Regulation of Skeletal Muscle Size, Hypertrophy, and Regeneration

 

[HIT4ME]

Interesting study - I have only read the ebstract so far and will read the entire thing when I have time, but right off the bat they seem to have found that AMPK1 is anabolic while AMPK2 is catabolic. This happens with a lot of signaling compounds - the subtypes have seemingly contradictory effects. It is because we like to categorize compounds to try to understand them, but the compounds don't always follow a simple set of categorical rules...the bigger picture is complex ajd hard to see and a study like this often is necessary for that knowledge.

Adenosine has a similar issue - the subtypes have varying effects and fir a long timw this was confusing. For instance, it seemed like activating the receptor inhibited pain, but activating it more caused more pain. This is because one receptor inhibited pain, but as you increased th levels of adenosine another subreceptor got more activation and that receptor caused pain.

Yohimbine does this as well with alpha receptors, a little bit can increase blood pressure - a lot can cause a dangerous drop in blood pressure.

It might be nice to find a specific ampk1 agonist