Abstract
Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) are molecules naturally produced by cells. If their levels are too high, the cellular antioxidant machinery intervenes to bring back their quantity to physiological conditions. Since aging often induces malfunctioning in this machinery, ROS are considered an effective cause of age-associated diseases. Exercise stimulates ROS production on one side, and the antioxidant systems on the other side. The effects of exercise on oxidative stress markers have been shown in blood, vascular tissue, brain, cardiac and skeletal muscle, both in young and aged people. However, the intensity and volume of exercise and the individual subject characteristics are important to envisage future strategies to adequately personalize the balance of the oxidant/antioxidant environment. Here, we reviewed the literature that deals with the effects of physical activity on redox balance in young and aged people, with insights into the molecular mechanisms involved. Although many molecular pathways are involved, we are still far from a comprehensive view of the mechanisms that stand behind the effects of physical activity during aging. Although we believe that future precision medicine will be able to transform exercise administration from wellness to targeted prevention, as yet we admit that the topic is still in its infancy.
Highlights
In 2018, the World Health Organization proposed healthy aging as “creating the environments and opportunities that enable people to be and do what they value throughout their lives”
Keeping in mind that oxidative stress is lower in fertile women because of oestrogen protection [5], a high quantity of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) is generally induced by exercise that provokes modifications of antioxidant activity, both in cardiac and skeletal muscle [6]
As the increase of antioxidant species was observed in many studies, and the reduction of oxidant species was observed in type-II diabetic patients performing moderate aerobic exercise three times/week [44], with no changes in the control group, it suggests that there is a specific effect of exercise in diabetic patients on lipid peroxidation levels and on the susceptibility of DNA to oxidative damage
Summary
In 2018, the World Health Organization proposed healthy aging as “creating the environments and opportunities that enable people to be and do what they value throughout their lives”. Keeping in mind that oxidative stress is lower in fertile women because of oestrogen protection [5], a high quantity of ROS is generally induced by exercise that provokes modifications of antioxidant activity, both in cardiac and skeletal muscle [6] It seems that both aerobic and anaerobic training stimulate the antioxidant system with respect to what happens in untrained subjects. In 2016 Park et al [14] studied the positive effects of exercise on redox balance in vessels They found that arteries from trained mice presented higher levels of antioxidant markers such as: (i) Peroxisome Proliferative Activated Receptor-coactivator-1 (PPARgamma), (ii) Cytochrome-C Oxidase Subunit IV isoform 1 (COX4I1), and (iii) Isocitrate Dehydro-.
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