il-6, among an increasing number of other recently identified myokines, thus remains an important topic of myokine research. it appears in muscle tissue and in the circulation during exercise at levels up to one hundred times basal rates, as noted, and is seen as having a beneficial impact on health and bodily functioning in most circumstances. p. munoz-canoves et al. write: "it appears consistently in the literature that il-6, produced locally by different cell types, has a positive impact on the proliferative capacity of muscle stem cells. this physiological mechanism functions to provide enough muscle progenitors in situations that require a high number of these cells, such as during the processes of muscle regeneration and hypertrophic growth after an acute stimulus. il-6 is also the founding member of the myokine family of muscle-produced cytokines. indeed, muscle-produced il-6 after repeated contractions also has important autocrine and paracrine benefits, acting as a myokine, in regulating energy metabolism, controlling, for example, metabolic functions and stimulating glucose production. it is important to note that these positive effects of il-6 and other myokines are normally associated with its transient production and short-term action."