Abstract
Exercise is beneficial for a variety of age-related disorders. However, the molecular mechanisms mediating the beneficial adaptations to exercise in older adults are not well understood. The aim of the current study was to utilize a dual approach to characterize the genetic and metabolic adaptive pathways altered by exercise in veteran athletes and age-matched untrained individuals. Two groups of 50–60 year old males: competitive cyclists (athletes, n = 9; VO2peak 59.1±5.2 ml·kg−1·min−1; peak aerobic power 383±39 W) and untrained, minimally active individuals (controls, n = 8; VO2peak 35.9±9.7 ml·kg−1·min−1; peak aerobic power 230±57 W) were examined. All participants completed an acute bout of submaximal endurance exercise, and blood and urine samples pre- and post-exercise were analyzed for gene expression and metabolic changes utilizing genome-wide DNA microarray analysis and NMR spectroscopy-based metabolomics, respectively. Our results indicate distinct differences in gene and metabolite expression involving energy metabolism, lipids, insulin signaling and cardiovascular function between the two groups. These findings may lead to new insights into beneficial signaling pathways of healthy aging and help identify surrogate markers for monitoring exercise and training load.
Highlights
Regular exercise has well-known health benefits and mitigates many of the devastating consequences of age-related disorders including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, dementia, anxiety and depression [1]
The majority of gene expression studies related to exercise in humans have used either skeletal muscle or peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), which represent only a fraction of white blood cells (WBCs) present in whole blood [4,8,9]
Subjects in both control and athlete groups were appropriately matched for age, height, body weight, BMI and waist circumference, for the purpose of comparing the effects of long-term exercise training in older subjects on gene expression and metabolomics profiles
Summary
Regular exercise has well-known health benefits and mitigates many of the devastating consequences of age-related disorders including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, dementia, anxiety and depression [1] While these beneficial effects are accomplished through exercise mediated adaptation at physiological, anatomical and biochemical levels, the molecular mechanisms mediating these adaptations are still not completely understood. 80% of the blood transcriptome has been reported to be shared with various tissues of the body including the heart, brain, kidney and lungs [10] This indicates that subtle changes occurring in individual systems throughout the body can leave genetic ‘‘footprints’’ in blood, suggesting that peripheral blood has the potential to be used as an important diagnostic tool for a variety of pathophysiological conditions. Recent studies examining exerciseinduced changes in the metabolic profile of urine suggest that the urine metabolome may provide valuable insight into whole body physiological function [13,14]
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