Scientists develop self-exercising muscle graft to mimic workout benefits

Scientists in China have created a self-exercising muscle graft that might allow bedridden people to gain the benefits of working out without any physical exertion.

With just an injection of muscle cells below the skin, the cells self-assembled into muscle grafts, which not only improved whole-body muscle mass in mice but also led to improvements in bone density, endurance, liver function and cognitive health.

“While the complete safety and [pharmacological] profile of autologous myografts remains to be established in human trials, our mouse preclinical studies constitute a noteworthy first step in this direction,” the team said in a paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Ageing on Wednesday.

“In a sense, we’re distilling the best part of exercise out … and avoiding all the negative effects of exercise, whether it’s the stress on the heart or the stress on your joints,” said study author Ng Shyh-Chang, a professor and principal investigator at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Zoology.