We all know that exercise is good for our health, but the intricate ways in which physical activity affects our bodies at the cellular and molecular level have remained largely a mystery. Now, a seminal new study by the Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium (MoTrPAC) has shed new light on the complex and far-reaching effects of exercise on the entire body.
Published in the journal Nature, the study, which included an astounding 9,466 assays across 25 molecular platforms and four training time points, identified thousands of shared and tissue-specific molecular alterations in response to endurance training. These changes were observed in a wide range of biological pathways, including immune, metabolic, stress response, and mitochondrial function.
Specifically, researchers discovered physical activity caused significant cellular and molecular changes in all 19 of the organs they studied, from the heart and brain to the lungs and liver. Simply put, working out can literally benefit every fiber of your being!
“It took a village of scientists with distinct scientific backgrounds to generate and integrate the massive amount of high quality data produced,” says co-senior study author Steven Carr, senior director of the Broad Institute’s Proteomics Platform, in a media release. “This is the first whole-organism map looking at the effects of training in multiple different organs. The resource produced will be enormously valuable, and has already produced many potentially novel biological insights for further exploration.”
One of the most striking findings was the widespread regulation of the heat shock response across all of the body’s tissues. Heat shock proteins (HSPs), which are known to play a crucial role in cellular stress response and protein folding, were found to be prominently upregulated in response to exercise. This suggests that the protective effects of exercise may be mediated, in part, by the induction of HSPs, which could help prevent the accumulation of misfolded proteins and maintain cellular homeostasis.
The study also revealed tissue-specific adaptations to endurance training. For example, in the lung, researchers observed a decrease in inflammation-related pathways, while in white adipose tissue, there was evidence of increased immune cell recruitment. The heart and skeletal muscle showed a shared enrichment of mitochondrial metabolism pathways, highlighting the importance of improved energy production in these tissues.
Researchers’ interest piqued when they saw that the small intestine exhibited a robust immune response to exercise, particularly in female rats. The downregulation of transcripts related to gut inflammation and the decreased abundance of various immune cell markers suggest that endurance training may improve gut homeostasis and confer systemic anti-inflammatory effects. This finding is particularly relevant given the growing recognition of the gut-brain axis and its potential role in modulating overall health and well-being.
Source : https://studyfinds.org/exercise-pill-cells-working-out