Abstract
An essential component of athletic performance, injury recovery, and clinical treatment is skeletal muscle hypertrophy, which can be induced by resistance exercise and an increase in protein consumption. In order to progress mechanistic and translational studies, it is crucial to identify reliable biomarkers of muscle hypertrophy. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine proteome changes associated with hypertrophy caused by structured resistance exercise and increased protein consumption in the diet. At the same time that subjects underwent a progressive training protocol and were required to adhere to a strictly controlled dietary regimen that dictated protein allocation, high-resolution proteomics was used to characterise muscle protein extracts. Analyses revealed consistent and quantifiable shifts within the skeletal muscle proteome, underscoring candidate biomarkers that govern translational protein synthesis, macromolecular quality control, and the adaptive stress response to mechanically induced cellular injury. The observed biomarkers exhibited robust correlations with increased muscle cross-sectional area and maximal muscular force outputs. The present investigation substantiates the capacity of skeletal muscle proteomic stratification to serve as reliable, non-invasive predictors of hypertrophic responses and delineates a methodologically standardized protocol permitting their unequivocal adoption in forthcoming experimental and clinical inquiries. Moreover, the identified proteomic signatures furnish a provisional framework upon which targeted interventions in the disciplines of individualized nutritional programming, exercise prescription, and the management of muscle-wasting syndromes— including, but not limited to, cachexia—may be iteratively designed and optimized.