This protein makes you want (or not) to ride a bike

Riding a bike is something we are passionate about, but many times laziness or tiredness from day to day overcome us and inexplicably we do not manage to get on the bike. Now, Spanish scientists from the National Center for Oncological Research (CNIO) have discovered a couple of proteins that apparently stimulate or inhibit the need to exercise.

Spanish researchers discover two proteins that regulate the desire to exercise

In an article published in the scientific journal Science Advance, the work of the team of scientists from the National Center for Oncological Research led by researcher Guadalupe Sabio is documented, in which they identify two proteins produced by the muscles that would be responsible for regulating the need to exercise or inhibit it.

"We have discovered how the muscle itself regulates the interest in exercise through a signaling pathway between muscle and brain that we did not know, and that is one of those that control - because there must be several - the fact that when we exercise we have that impulse to do even more," explained Guadalupe Sabio.

In the studies carried out, the researchers found that under conditions of intense work, the muscles produced the proteins p38alpha and p38gamma that regulate each other. The predominance of one or the other would be responsible for increasing the need to perform physical activity or, conversely, inhibiting it. In turn, the production of p30gamma leads to the appearance of a third protein, interleukin 15 or IL-15, which activates the motor cortex of the brain, resulting in enhancing the motor activity of the organism and which would be the communication pathway between muscle and brain when stimulating the need to exercise.

In the research conducted, it has been observed that animals that exercised constantly had a higher activation of p38gamma, which would explain why the more exercise we do, the more we want to continue doing it. Likewise, it has also been observed that obese people have lower levels of IL-15.

This could open the door to the creation of a drug based on the protein IL-15 that would stimulate the need to exercise and that could, like other medications on the market such as the famous Ozempic that regulates the need to eat, be used to make it easier for people with obesity problems to face the need to engage in physical activity to control their weight.