Scientists have developed a muscle injection that could help you burn more calories when you do simple chores or exercise.

Researchers from the University of Iowa and the Iowa City VA Medical Center demonstrated how they've been able to achieve this result in mice by overriding the muscles' tendency to conserve energy.

Like Us on Facebook

They're working on a muscle-targeted injection therapy to assist overweight people lose weight easily, even when low to moderate exercise. This therapy will counter the body's natural tendency to boost its energy efficiency to counter weight loss.

Researchers said that if muscles were less energy efficient, they'd burn more calories even with mild levels of exercise. Their idea is to jump start the weight loss process by overriding the body's natural tendency to save energy. This is why it's so difficult to lose weight.

"This study shows for the first time that this energy efficiency can be manipulated in a clinically translatable way," said study co-author Denice Hodgson-Zingman, MD, UI associate professor of internal medicine.

The team injected a compound called a "vivo-morpholino" into the thigh muscles of a mouse. The compound suppresses the production of a protein called ATP-sensitive potassium (KATP) channel responsible for regulating the energy efficiency of skeletal muscles. It also determines the amount of energy used by muscles.

Researchers reported the injected muscles experienced protein loss and burned more calories than those that weren't injected as the mouse moved on the treadmill.

"The disruption of the KATP channels results in changes of the muscles' electric properties, which in turn increase calcium turnover," Sivaramakrishna Koganti, a postdoctoral research scientist in Dr. Zingman's lab tells Gizmag.

"This change in the calcium handling requires more energy, and thus every time the muscle contracts, it consumes more energy compared to the muscle with the intact KATP channel function."

Interestingly, the injection affected only the muscles in the thigh without impacting neighboring muscles or other organs.

That's important since this therapy makes it possible to affect only the desired muscles locally, without disrupting others throughout the body that might result in undesirable side effects.

This research could lead to a therapy that makes it easier to lose weight by taking a shot in the leg or arm just before doing everyday tasks or light exercise.