Regular exercise is a crucial element in maintaining lifelong health. Exercise promotes bone health, counteracts poor mood, and reduces the risk of chronic, life-threatening conditions like cancer and cardiovascular disease. While there is no true replacement for exercise, a new “exercise pill” developed by scientists at the Washington University School of Medicine could mimic some of the benefits, potentially treating a range of medical conditions. The team presented its findings at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS).
Potential Implications of an Exercise Pill
While there is no real substitute for traditional exercise, the development of a compound that can mimic the “physical boost of a workout” is medically enticing. Exercise mimetics, or drugs that mimic the effects of exercise, could be used to enhance metabolism, promote muscle growth, and even improve muscle performance in individuals with degenerative diseases. This class of drugs is still emerging, with the majority of related research conducted over the last decade.
Research into exercise mimetics is growing in popularity, largely because these drugs could vastly improve the quality of life for patients with conditions like heart disease, muscle atrophy, osteoporosis, and neurodegenerative diseases like dementia, which often take a toll on the body. Exercise mimetics could also benefit patients taking GLP-1 agonists — drugs like Wegovy® and Zepbound® that are increasingly being prescribed to treat obesity. While these drugs can reduce excess body fat, they can also cause loss of muscle mass and function. Exercise mimetics may reduce those negative effects.
Designing the New “Exercise Pill”
The Washington University School of Medicine team spent 10 years working with animal models to design the compound that could serve as the pill’s main mechanism. The compound, called SLU-PP-332, activates a group of proteins called estrogen-related receptors — specifically, the ERRα, ERRβ, and ERRγ proteins. These hormone receptors help regulate the impacts of exercise within the muscles. By tapping into these receptors, the team theorized that they could unlock the benefits of exercise in the body without requiring physical activity.
From there, the scientists boosted the cells’ response to the receptors, evaluating cellular response using different compounds in rodent test subjects. The team realized that their compound increased a type of fatigue-resistant muscle fiber, improving the rodents’ muscular performance and endurance when running on a treadmill. In other words, the compound improved the rodents’ fitness level without requiring any physical training.
Finally, the team created new molecules with the goal of making them safer and more effective than the original SLU-PP-332 compound. The new compounds appear to improve heart health in rat subjects, though further research is needed.
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Much more research is necessary before researchers can design an exercise pill for humans. For now, scientists are focused on future testing with animal models — and envisioning a future in which the power of exercise could be captured in a single pill.
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