Research

Hormonal

Creatine supplementation alters the expression of myogenic transcription factors (increasing MRF4, preventing myogenin increase) during rehabilitation, which may mediate enhanced muscle hypertrophy.

This finding explains why creatine might work better for some people during rehab, but it does not change the practical advice to take 5g daily. The biological mechanism involves shifting which genes are active in muscle repair.

GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
However, after rehabilitation myogenin protein expression was increased in P but not in CR (P < 0.05), whilst MRF4 protein expression was increased in CR but not in P (P < 0.05).
Peter Hespel et al. · The Journal of Physiology · 2001

Why this rating

Direct measurement of protein expression via immunochemical assays in human muscle biopsies.

Source

Oral creatine supplementation facilitates the rehabilitation of disuse atrophy and alters the expression of muscle myogenic factors in humans

Peter Hespel et al. · The Journal of Physiology · 2001

DOI 10.1111/j.1469-7793.2001.0625c.xd

rct · n=22Cited 330×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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