Abstract

Skeletal muscle is a highly adaptable tissue and has the ability to repair and remodel when exposed to appropriate cues. Many factors act together allowing skeletal muscle to respond to a wide variety of stimuli such as physical activity, more specifically different modes of exercise training. Satellite cells, a skeletal muscle–specific stem cell population, are thought to play an important role in mediating adaptations due to exercise training. Increased satellite cell content has long been associated with hypertrophic stimuli in humans, such as resistance exercise training. Satellite cells are believed to contribute to the ability of muscle fibres to increase in size in response to resistance exercise training. In more recent years, researchers have sought to understand whether aerobic exercise also elicits a satellite cell response. In this chapter we discuss the ability of various forms of exercise to elicit acute and training responses of the satellite cell pool and the potential of these responses to mediate exercise-induced adaptations.