Mice with elevated muscle glycogen stores do not have improved exercise performance.

Skeletal muscle glycogen is considered to be an important source of energy for contraction and increasing the level of the glucose polymer is generally thought to improve exercise performance in humans. A genetically modified mouse model (GSL30), which overaccumulates glycogen due to overexpression of a hyperactive form of glycogen synthase, was used to examine whether increasing the level of the polysaccharide enhances the ability of mice to run on a treadmill. The skeletal muscle of the GSL30 mice had large deposits of glycogen. There were no significant increases in the work performed by GSL30 mice as compared to their respective wild type littermates when exercised to exhaustion. The amount of muscle glycogen utilized by GSL30 mice, however, was greater, while the amount of liver glycogen consumed during exhaustive exercise was less than wild type animals. This result suggests that increased muscle glycogen stores do not necessarily improve exercise performance in mice.

Exercise capacity of mice genetically lacking muscle glycogen synthase: in mice, muscle glycogen is not essential for exercise.

The glucose storage polymer glycogen is generally considered to be an important source of energy for skeletal muscle contraction and a factor in exercise endurance. A genetically modified mouse model lacking muscle glycogen was used to examine whether the absence of the polysaccharide affects the ability of mice to run on a treadmill. The MGSKO mouse has the GYS1 gene, encoding the muscle isoform of glycogen synthase, disrupted so that skeletal muscle totally lacks glycogen. The morphology of the soleus and quadriceps muscles from MGSKO mice appeared normal. MGSKO-null mice, along with wild type littermates, were exercised to exhaustion. There were no significant differences in the work performed by MGSKO mice as compared with their wild type littermates. The amount of liver glycogen consumed during exercise was similar for MGSKO and wild type animals. Fasting reduced exercise endurance, and after overnight fasting, there was a trend to reduced exercise endurance for the MGSKO mice. These studies provide genetic evidence that in mice muscle glycogen is not essential for strenuous exercise and has relatively little effect on endurance.