Impact of resistance exercise on ribosome biogenesis is acutely regulated by post-exercise recovery strategies
Open accessAbstract
Muscle hypertrophy occurs following increased protein synthesis, which requires activation of the ribosomal complex. Additionally, increased translational capacity via elevated ribosomal RNA (rRNA) synthesis has also been implicated in resistance training-induced skeletal muscle hypertrophy. The time course of ribosome biogenesis following resistance exercise (RE) and the impact exerted by differing recovery strategies remains unknown. In the present study, the activation of transcriptional regulators, the expression levels of pre-rRNA, and mature rRNA components were measured through 48 h after a single-bout RE. In addition, the effects of either low-intensity cycling (active recovery, ACT) or a cold-water immersion (CWI) recovery strategy were compared. Nine male subjects performed two bouts of high-load RE randomized to be followed by 10 min of either ACT or CWI. Muscle biopsies were collected before RE and at 2, 24, and 48 h after RE. RE increased the phosphorylation of the p38-MNK1-eIF4E axis, an effect only evident with ACT recovery. Downstream, cyclin D1 protein, total eIF4E, upstream binding factor 1 (UBF1), and c-Myc proteins were all increased only after RE with ACT. This corresponded with elevated abundance of the pre-rRNAs (45S, ITS-28S, ITS-5.8S, and ETS-18S) from 24 h after RE with ACT. In conclusion, coordinated upstream signaling and activation of transcriptional factors stimulated pre-rRNA expression after RE. CWI, as a recovery strategy, markedly blunted these events, suggesting that suppressed ribosome biogenesis may be one factor contributing to the impaired hypertrophic response observed when CWI is used regularly after exercise.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
c-Myc induction precedes and obligatorily drives a subsequent elevation in 45S pre-rRNA, which typically peaks between 4 and 12 h post-exercise before returning to baseline.
“This massive c-Myc induction precedes and obligatorily drives a subsequent, highly significant elevation in 45S pre-rRNA, which typically peaks between 4 and 12 h post-exercise before gradually returning to baseline [85,86].”
From Ribosome Biogenesis as a Putative Bottleneck to Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophy: Mechanisms, Human Evidence, and Practical Modulators (2026) · cites this paper as [85]
The Results (protein response and rRNA expression; page unavailable) report increased c-Myc and 45S pre-rRNA after resistance exercise with active recovery. They do not establish that c-Myc rises first or is obligatory: c-Myc was elevated at 24 and 48 h, while 45S pre-rRNA increased at 24 h and tended to remain elevated at 48 h. The study sampled at 2, 24, and 48 h, so it cannot establish a 4–12 h peak or a subsequent return to baseline. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredFollowing a single bout of heavy resistance exercise, c-Myc mRNA expression surges by over 10-fold within the first 2-4 h.
“following a single bout of heavy resistance exercise, c-Myc mRNA expression surges by over 10-fold within the first 2–4 h [85].”
From Ribosome Biogenesis as a Putative Bottleneck to Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophy: Mechanisms, Human Evidence, and Practical Modulators (2026) · cites this paper as [85]
The Methods list the mRNAs measured, but c-Myc is not among them. The Results report an increase in c-Myc protein at 24 and 48 hours with active recovery, not a greater-than-tenfold increase in c-Myc mRNA at 2–4 hours. Searches for c-Myc mRNA and the claimed magnitude found no supporting passage. (LLM, conf=0.78)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet
References 40 · Cited by 104
- Authors
- Figueiredo, V. C., Roberts, L. A., Markworth, J. F., Barnett, M. P. G., Coombes, J. S., Raastad, T., Peake, J. M., & Cameron-Smith, D.
- Affiliations
- University of Auckland (NZ)
- The University of Queensland (AU)
- AgResearch (NZ)
- Norwegian School of Sport Sciences (NO)
- Queensland University of Technology (AU)
- The Liggins Institute; The University of Auckland; Auckland New Zealand
- ORCID
- Venue
- Physiological Reports
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2016-01
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- e12670
- ISSN
- 2051-817X (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4760384
- OpenAlex
- W2257943861
- Cited by
- 104
- References
- 40
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 6
- FWCI
- 8.93
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Physiological Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- BIBSYS Brage (BIBSYS (Norway)) (acceptedVersion)
- QUT ePrints (Queensland University of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- NORA - Norwegian Open Research Archives (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Griffith Research Online (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- ResearchSpace (University of Auckland) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) Research Foundation
- Exercise and Sport Science Australia (ESSA)
- Queensland University of Technology
- The University of Queensland
- AgResearch Limited (A19079, A21246)
- University of Auckland Doctoral Scholarship
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Muscle metabolism and nutrition
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Muscle Physiology and Disorders
- Keywords
- resistance training, ribosome biogenesis, post-exercise recovery, cold water immersion, active recovery, skeletal muscle hypertrophy, pre-rRNA synthesis, eIF4E, c-Myc, cyclin D1, ribosomal RNA
- MeSH terms
- Cold Temperature, Humans, Male, Ribosomes, Blotting, Western, Muscle, Skeletal, Cross-Over Studies, Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction, Resistance Training, Young Adult
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
