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Myonuclear Accretion

Meaning

Myonuclear accretion is a fundamental biological process in skeletal muscle hypertrophy, defined as the incorporation of new nuclei from satellite cells into existing muscle fibers. Each nucleus, or myonucleus, governs a finite volume of cytoplasm, known as the myonuclear domain, responsible for protein synthesis within that region of the muscle fiber. For a muscle fiber to increase significantly in size, it must typically increase its myonuclei number to support the greater synthetic demand, which is the essence of accretion. This process is highly regulated by mechanical load and anabolic hormones like testosterone and growth factors.