Follistatin (FST) 344 is a synthetic version of the naturally occurring human follistatin protein. Follistatin is found in nearly all tissues of higher animals and comes in two separate isoforms as a result of alternative gene splicing. Its primary biological function is neutralization of proteins in the TGF-beta superfamily. It has particularly potent neutralizing effects on activin, myostatin, and follicle-stimulating hormone.
Myostatin is a protein produced by muscle cells themselves that inhibits muscle cell growth and differentiation. It is a member of the TGF-beta protein family and therefore is susceptible to inhibition by follistatin. Previous research has shown that animals lacking myostatin have significantly more muscle mass and are stronger than normal. This led scientists to speculate that administration of follistatin could improve muscle growth and help to treat a number of medical conditions, like muscular dystrophy, that impact muscle growth and strength.
In mouse models, follistatin has been shown to increase lean muscle mass without the need for special dietary or exercise requirements. After just eight weeks of follistatin injections, mice in the treatment group had 10% more muscle mass than mice in the control group[1]. This, again, is a result obtained without exercising the mice or subjecting them to special diets, indicating that gains could be even more substantial with appropriate training.
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