The Belgian Blue is a breed of beef cattle from Belgium. It may also be known as the Race de la Moyenne et Haute Belgique, or dikbil. Alternative names for this breed include Belgian Blue-White; Belgian White and Blue Pied; Belgian White Blue; Blue; and Blue Belgian. The Belgian Blue's extremely lean, hyper-sculpted, ultra-muscular physique is termed "double-muscling". The double-muscling phenotype is a heritable condition resulting in an increased number of muscle fibres (hyperplasia), instead of the (normal) enlargement of individual muscle fibres (hypertrophy).
A glycogen storage disease is a metabolic disorder caused by a deficiency of an enzyme or transport protein affecting glycogen synthesis, glycogen breakdown, or glucose breakdown, typically in muscles and/or liver cells.
Carnitine is a quaternary ammonium compound involved in metabolism in most mammals, plants, and some bacteria. In support of energy metabolism, carnitine transports long-chain fatty acids from the cytosol into mitochondria to be oxidized for free energy production, and also participates in removing products of metabolism from cells. Given its key metabolic roles, carnitine is concentrated in tissues like skeletal and cardiac muscle that metabolize fatty acids as an energy source. Generally individuals, including strict vegetarians, synthesize enough L-carnitine in vivo.
The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) is one of the institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health, an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Myostatin is a protein that in humans is encoded by the MSTN gene. Myostatin is a myokine that is produced and released by myocytes and acts on muscle cells to inhibit muscle growth. Myostatin is a secreted growth differentiation factor that is a member of the TGF beta protein family.
In biochemistry and metabolism, beta oxidation (also β-oxidation) is the catabolic process by which fatty acid molecules are broken down in the cytosol in prokaryotes and in the mitochondria in eukaryotes to generate acetyl-CoA. Acetyl-CoA enters the citric acid cycle, generating NADH and FADH2, which are electron carriers used in the electron transport chain. It is named as such because the beta carbon of the fatty acid chain undergoes oxidation and is converted to a carbonyl group to start the cycle all over again. Beta-oxidation is primarily facilitated by the mitochondrial trifunctional protein, an enzyme complex associated with the inner mitochondrial membrane, although very long chain fatty acids are oxidized in peroxisomes.
Systemic primary carnitine deficiency (SPCD) is an inborn error of fatty acid transport caused by a defect in the transporter responsible for moving carnitine across the plasma membrane. Carnitine is an important amino acid for fatty acid metabolism. When carnitine cannot be transported into tissues, fatty acid oxidation is impaired, leading to a variety of symptoms such as chronic muscle weakness, cardiomyopathy, hypoglycemia and liver dysfunction. The specific transporter involved with SPCD is OCTN2, coded for by the SLC22A5 gene located on chromosome 5. SPCD is inherited in an autosomal recessive manner, with mutated alleles coming from both parents.
Glutaric acidemia type 1 (GA1) is an inherited disorder in which the body is unable to completely break down the amino acids lysine, hydroxylysine and tryptophan. Excessive levels of their intermediate breakdown products can accumulate and cause damage to the brain, but particularly the basal ganglia, which are regions that help regulate movement. GA1 causes secondary carnitine deficiency, as glutaric acid, like other organic acids, is detoxified by carnitine. Mental retardation may occur.
Mitochondrial myopathies are types of myopathies associated with mitochondrial disease. Adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the chemical used to provide energy for the cell, cannot be produced sufficiently by oxidative phosphorylation when the mitochondrion is either damaged or missing necessary enzymes or transport proteins. With ATP production deficient in mitochondria, there is an over-reliance on anaerobic glycolysis which leads to lactic acidosis either at rest or exercise-induced.
Myoglobinuria is the presence of myoglobin in the urine, which usually results from rhabdomyolysis or muscle injury. Myoglobin is present in muscle cells as a reserve of oxygen.
Glutaric acidemia type 2 is an autosomal recessive metabolic disorder that is characterised by defects in the ability of the body to use proteins and fats for energy. Incompletely processed proteins and fats can build up, leading to a dangerous chemical imbalance called acidosis. It is a metabolic myopathy, categorized under fatty acid metabolism disorder as that is the bioenergetic system that it affects the most. It also affects choline metabolism.
Malonyl-CoA decarboxylase deficiency (MCD) is an autosomal-recessive metabolic disorder caused by a genetic mutation that disrupts the activity of Malonyl-CoA decarboxylase. This enzyme breaks down Malonyl-CoA into acetyl-CoA and carbon dioxide.
Muscle hypertrophy or muscle building involves a hypertrophy or increase in size of skeletal muscle through a growth in size of its component cells. Two factors contribute to hypertrophy: sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, which focuses more on increased muscle glycogen storage; and myofibrillar hypertrophy, which focuses more on increased myofibril size. It is the primary focus of bodybuilding-related activities.
Catabolysis is a biological process in which the body breaks down fat and muscle tissue in order to stay alive. Catabolysis occurs only when there is no longer any source of protein, carbohydrate, or vitamin nourishment feeding all body systems; it is the most severe type of malnutrition.
Metabolic myopathies are myopathies that result from defects in biochemical metabolism that primarily affect muscle. They are generally genetic defects that interfere with muscle's ability to create energy, causing a low ATP reservoir within the muscle cell.
Myostatin-related muscle hypertrophy is a rare genetic condition characterized by reduced body fat and increased skeletal muscle size. Affected individuals have up to twice the usual amount of muscle mass in their bodies, but increases in muscle strength are not usually congruent. Myostatin-related muscle hypertrophy is not known to cause medical problems, and affected individuals are intellectually normal. The prevalence of this condition is unknown.
A broad classification for genetic disorders that result from an inability of the body to produce or utilize an enzyme or transport protein that is required to oxidize fatty acids. They are an inborn error of lipid metabolism, and when it affects the muscles also a metabolic myopathy.
A myokine is one of several hundred cytokines or other small proteins and proteoglycan peptides that are produced and released by skeletal muscle cells in response to muscular contractions. They have autocrine, paracrine and/or endocrine effects; their systemic effects occur at picomolar concentrations.
Myostatin inhibitors are a class of drugs that work by blocking the effects of myostatin, which inhibits muscle growth. In animal models and limited human studies, myostatin inhibitors have increased muscle size. They are being developed to treat obesity, sarcopenia, muscular dystrophy, and other illnesses.
