Muscle Atrophy: When The Body Cannibalizes Itself

Monday, June 8, 2009 - 09:28 in Health & Medicine

During desperate times, such as fasting or muscle wasting that afflicts cancer or AIDS patients, the body cannibalizes itself, atrophying and breaking down skeletal muscle proteins to liberate amino acids. A new study shows that muscle atrophy is a more ordered process than was previously thought.

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