WHAT EFFECT DOES CREATINE HAVE ON MUSCLE GROWTH?
The scientists Dangott, Schultz and Mozdziak In the present study, we investigated the effect of creatine on muscle building and whether creatine intake leads to real hypertrophy of skeletal muscles and not just to an increase in the water content in muscle cells.
Rats were given either creatine monohydrate or a placebo (5% dextrose solution). At the same time, part of the lower leg muscles on one of the animals' extremities were removed so that the remaining muscles were subjected to increased strain (so-called compensatory hypertrophy, see the title of the study).
The activity of satellite cells in the lower leg muscles increased in both the animals fed a placebo and those given creatine monohydrate. However, this increase in satellite cell activity was significantly greater in the second group than in the first. Interestingly, there was no increased activity of satellite cells in the other limb, where no muscle was removed, neither in the placebo nor in the creatine group.
Creatine only led to this strong increase in satellite cell activity in conjunction with a training or growth stimulus. The authors of this study suspect that oral creatine monohydrate administration increased the creatine content in the muscle cell and thereby also increased the osmotic pressure due to the additional water retention in the cell. This could then lead to the frequently observed effect of creatine in previous studies. MUSCLE ENLARGEMENT which subsequently indirectly leads to an activation of satellite cells. These would then fuse with the actual muscle cell, "donate" their cell nuclei to the muscle cell and thereby positively influence the ratio of cell nuclei to cell mass, thus promoting hypertrophy processes.
Thus, an increased activity of satellite cells in the muscles could be shown through the administration of creatine monohydrate. Satellite cells are "daughter cells" of muscle cells. They function as reserve muscle cells, for example in the event of injuries or diseases of the muscle tissue. These cells, which are located between the cell fluid and the basement membrane of the cells, are essential for muscle hypertrophy.
If hypertrophy of the muscle cell occurs, the volume of the cell increases due to the thickening. The ratio of the cell surface to the cell volume is crucial for further hypertrophy. If the volume and thus the surface of the cell increases, a critical level is reached at some point at which this ratio of cell surface to cell volume prevents further growth of the cell.
Then the cell surface, as the site of substance exchange between the muscle cell and its environment, has reached such a size that proper supply of the structures within the cell by the cell nucleus is no longer possible.
The cell nucleus is then no longer able to provide the cell with enough new genetic material. The solution to this problem would be either cell division (hyperplasia) or increasing the number of cell nuclei so that further hypertrophy processes in the muscle cell become possible.
"CREATINE IS ONLY EFFECTIVE IN CONJUNCTION WITH TRAINING AND NOT ONLY HAS A POSITIVE EFFECT ON THE ENTIRE ORGANISM, BUT IS ALSO EFFECTIVE LOCALLY." (QUOTE: A. FREY)
Whether cell proliferation, i.e. hyperplasia, can occur in skeletal muscles in humans remains a matter of debate among researchers. Satellite cells act as "reserve cells" and provide the muscle cells with new, additional cell nuclei, thus enabling new cell growth without hyperplasia, i.e. cell proliferation. Increased activity of satellite cells is therefore extremely positive from the bodybuilder's point of view, as it leads to greater muscle hypertrophy in conjunction with an adequate training stimulus.
The important finding from this study for bodybuilders is that creatine in combination with training actually leads to real hypertrophy in the skeletal muscles This is more pronounced than without creatine. This means that it is not just a temporary retention of water. It is ultimately difficult to answer the extent to which these results can be transferred to humans.
However, the available findings allow us to conclude that creatine intake actually leads to real muscle growth and not just, as is often claimed, to water retention in the muscles, which is quickly lost again after discontinuation.