Abstract

With the cessation of exercise, glycogen repletion begins to take place rapidly in skeletal muscle and can result in glycogen levels higher than those present before exercise. Understanding the rate-limiting steps that regulate glycogen synthesis will provide us with strategies to increase the resynthesis of glycogen during recovery from exercise, and thus improve performance. These are the contents of this paper: 1.) Glucose metabolism. 2.) Muscle glycogen resynthesis in humans: 2.1) Time course for muscle glycogen resynthesis; 2.2) Type of carbohydrate ingested; 2.3) Timing of carbohydrate ingestion; 2.4) Role of gastric emptying in glucose availability; 2.5) Impaired glycogen resynthesis after eccentric exercise. 3.) Glycogen synthase activation. 4.) Role of glucose transport in regulation of glycogen synthesis: 4.1) The glucose transporter; 4.2) Glucose disposal is limited by glucose transport; 4.3) Examples of glucose transport regulating glycogenesis. 5.) Conclusions. Verf.-Referat