Abstract

Skeletal muscle represents a unique tissue type, with its highly dynamic ability to both produce mechanical activity through cross-bridge cycling and to sense external mechanical stimuli resulting in a functional intracellular response. This process of sensing mechanical perturbation and converting it into an intracellular response has been coined mechanotransduction, and is proposed to play a major role in skeletal muscle metabolism and adaptation. However, how mechanotransduction contributes to the overall response following resistance exercise remains unclear. While resistance exercise is well-known to produce a substantial mechanical stimulus within the muscle, the exact mode(s) of both sensing and converting this stimulus into the often-observed adaptations accompanied with exercise, most notably increased muscle mass and enhanced glycolytic/oxidative metabolism, is still poorly understood. As such, we will review in this chapter the current knowledge of mechanotransduction and the way through which this mode of cellular signalling is influenced following both acute and chronic resistance exercise.