sports science

Glycogen fixation

The process whereby glycogen is manufactured from carbohydrate and locked into muscle cells

Amino acid pool

A collective term for the ‘free’ amino acids (ie not forming proteins) circulating around the body and available for use by the body

Muscle transporter protein

A protein molecule that sits in the cell wall and facilitates the passage of substances in or out of the cell

Anabolic hormone

Any chemical messenger molecule in the body that promotes tissue (and particularly muscle) synthesis

Muscle biopsy

A method of mechanically removing a small slither of tissue from a muscle for analysis

Radiolabelling

A chemical technique of replacing an atom in a molecule with a radioactive atom (usually of the same type) so that the movement of the molecule can be tracked in the body