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Muscle Protein Synthesis

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As previously mentioned, WPHs are pre-digested to a degree, meaning that the resulting amino acids are more quickly distributed to skeletal muscles. This positively impacts the rate of rate of muscle protein synthesis after exercise. The way this process works is broken into two main steps – transcription and translation (Editors, 2011). In transcription, DNA is “unzipped” (opened), and with the help of the enzyme RNA polymerase, messenger RNA, or mRNA, is created by pairing complementary nucleotides using the DNA as an “instructional template”. This step does not require amino acids, but is necessary to briefly mention in order to give context to the second step. Translation involves the mRNA binding to ribosomes in the cytoplasm of the muscle cell. Here, transfer RNA, or tRNA, molecules also bind to the ribosome. The order …show more content…

First of all, WPHs are effective scavengers of molecules with free radicals in the body (Tang et al, 2012) due to their hydrophobicity. Secondly, reducing power is significant in WPHs, so that when these free radicals are found, they are eliminated effectively. In cells, oxygen is needed for many processes, but there are side effects of frequent exposure to the molecule, namely the formation of free radicals. These highly reactive molecules have an unpaired electron, allowing them to interact freely with and do damage to lipid molecules, particularly ones with double bonds. Since cell membranes have a high lipid content, they are at risk without antioxidant protection. Tang et al (2012) showed that WPHs from peanut peptides effectively scavenge and reduce hydroxyl radicals (most dangerous) and 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals. The latter of the two is particularly notable, as “The model of scavenging stable DPPH radical is a widely used method to evaluate antioxidant activities in a relatively short time compared with other methods.” (p.

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