Research
Hormonal
Endogenous glucocorticoids drive skeletal muscle atrophy by upregulating muscle-specific E3 ubiquitin ligases (MuRF1 and MAFbx) and suppressing protein synthesis via mTOR inhibition, a process mediated by the HPA axis activation during chronic inflammation or stress.
Chronic stress and inflammation trigger hormones (glucocorticoids) that actively break down muscle protein and stop new muscle building. To mitigate this, managing underlying inflammatory conditions and stress is as important as nutrition and training, as the hormonal environment directly dictates muscle retention.
StrongSupportsHIGH confidence
Glucocorticoids elicit the atrophy of muscle by increasing the rate of protein degradation by the ubiquitin-proteasome system and autophagy lysosome system. Protein synthesis is also suppressed at the level of translational initiation... Glucocorticoids also antagonize the action of anabolic regulators such as insulin further exacerbating the loss of protein and muscle mass.
Why this rating
The paper is a comprehensive review citing numerous primary studies, knockout mouse models, and clinical observations.
Source
The regulation of muscle mass by endogenous glucocorticoids
Theodore P. Braun et al. · Frontiers in Physiology · 2015
DOI 10.3389/fphys.2015.00012
narrative_reviewCited 264×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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