Search results for "Physical Conditioning"
showing 10 items of 142 documents
Effects of a 20-week high-intensity strength and sprint training program on tibial bone structure and strength in middle-aged and older male sprint a…
2017
This randomized, controlled, high-intensity strength and sprint training trial in middle-aged and older male sprint athletes showed significant improvements in mid-tibial structure and strength. The study reveals the adaptability of aging bone, suggesting that through a novel, intensive training stimulus it is possible to strengthen bones during aging. High-load, high-speed and impact-type exercise may be an efficient way of improving bone strength even in old age. We evaluated the effects of combined strength and sprint training on indices of bone health in competitive masters athletes, who serve as a group of older people who are likely to be able to participate in vigorous exercise of th…
Effects of intrinsic aerobic capacity, aging and voluntary running on skeletal muscle sirtuins and heat shock proteins
2016
Aim Sirtuins are proteins that connect energy metabolism, oxidative stress and aging. Expression of heat shock proteins (Hsps) is regulated by heat shock factors (HSFs) in response to various environmental and physiological stresses, such as oxidative stress. Oxidative stress accumulates during aging which makes cells more prone to DNA damage. Although many experimental animal models have been designed to study the effects of knockdown or overexpression of sirtuins, HSFs and Hsps, little is known about how aging per se affects their expression. Here we study the impact of intrinsic aerobic capacity, aging and voluntary exercise on the levels of sirtuins, HSFs and Hsps in skeletal muscle. Me…
Aerobic Exercise and Pharmacological Treatments Counteract Cachexia by Modulating Autophagy in Colon Cancer
2016
Recent studies have correlated physical activity with a better prognosis in cachectic patients, although the underlying mechanisms are not yet understood. In order to identify the pathways involved in the physical activity-mediated rescue of skeletal muscle mass and function, we investigated the effects of voluntary exercise on cachexia in colon carcinoma (C26)-bearing mice. Voluntary exercise prevented loss of muscle mass and function, ultimately increasing survival of C26-bearing mice. We found that the autophagic flux is overloaded in skeletal muscle of both colon carcinoma murine models and patients, but not in running C26-bearing mice, thus suggesting that exercise may release the auto…
A New Frailty Score for Experimental Animals Based on the Clinical Phenotype: Inactivity as a Model of Frailty.
2016
The development of animal models to study human frailty is important to test interventions to be translated to the clinical practice. The aim of this work was to develop a score for frailty in experimental animals based in the human frailty phenotype. We also tested the effect of physical inactivity in the development of frailty as determined by our score. Male C57Bl/6J mice, individually caged, were randomly assigned to one of two groups: sedentary (inactive) or spontaneous wheel-runners. We compared the sedentary versus the active lifestyle in terms of frailty by evaluating the clinical criteria used in humans: unintentional weight loss; poor endurance (running time); slowness (running sp…
Restricted vs. unrestricted wheel running in mice: Effects on brain, behavior and endocannabinoids.
2016
Beneficial effects of voluntary wheel running on hippocampal neurogenesis, morphology and hippocampal-dependent behavior have widely been studied in rodents, but also serious side effects and similarities to stereotypy have been reported. Some mouse strains run excessively when equipped with running wheels, complicating the comparability to human exercise regimes. Here, we investigated how exercise restriction to 6h/day affects hippocampal morphology and metabolism, stereotypic and basal behaviors, as well as the endocannabinoid system in wheel running C57BL/6 mice; the strain most commonly used for behavioral analyses and psychiatric disease models. Restricted and unrestricted wheel runnin…
Moderate exercise in mice improves cancer plus chemotherapy-induced muscle wasting and mitochondrial alterations
2019
Cancer cachexia is a multifactorial syndrome characterized by anorexia, body wasting, and muscle and adipose tissue loss, impairing patient's tolerance to anticancer treatments and survival. The aim of the present study was to compare the effects induced in mice by tumor growth alone (C26) or in combination with chemotherapy [C26 oxaliplatin and 5-fluorouracil (oxfu)] and to evaluate the potential of moderate exercise. Oxfu administration to C26 mice exacerbated muscle wasting and triggered autophagy or mitophagy, decreased protein synthesis, and induced mitochondrial alterations. Exercise in C26 oxfu mice counteracted the loss of muscle mass and strength, partially rescuing autophagy and m…
Functional hypoxia drives neuroplasticity and neurogenesis via brain erythropoietin.
2020
Erythropoietin (EPO), named after its role in hematopoiesis, is also expressed in mammalian brain. In clinical settings, recombinant EPO treatment has revealed a remarkable improvement of cognition, but underlying mechanisms have remained obscure. Here, we show with a novel line of reporter mice that cognitive challenge induces local/endogenous hypoxia in hippocampal pyramidal neurons, hence enhancing expression of EPO and EPO receptor (EPOR). High-dose EPO administration, amplifying auto/paracrine EPO/EPOR signaling, prompts the emergence of new CA1 neurons and enhanced dendritic spine densities. Single-cell sequencing reveals rapid increase in newly differentiating neurons. Importantly, i…
Multicomponent Training Prevents Memory Deficit Related to Amyloid-β Protein-Induced Neurotoxicity.
2021
Background: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterized by the accumulation of the amyloid-β peptide in the brain, leading to early oxidative stress and neurotoxicity. It has been suggested that physical exercise could be beneficial in preventing AD, but studies with multicomponent training are scanty. Objective: Verify the effects of multicomponent exercise training to prevent deficits in recognition memory related to Aβ neurotoxicity. Methods: We subjected Wistar rats to multicomponent training (including aerobic and anaerobic physical exercise and cognitive exercise) and then infused amyloid-β peptide into their hippocampus. Results: We show that long-term multicomponent training prevents …
Physical activity and environmental enrichment: Behavioural effects of exposure to different housing conditions in mice.
2020
Enriched environments and exercise provide complex environmental stimulation that can induce emotional and cognitive changes; however, few studies have evaluated the effects of these two components on other behaviours, such as novelty seeking or pain sensitivity. The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of voluntary physical activity provided through different housing conditions on anxiety, locomotor activity, pain sensitivity, and exploration. Male mice at postnatal day (PND) 21 and were randomly assigned to one of four different conditions on PND 28: Marlau cages (MC), a standardized cage designed to provide a complex environment; physical exercise in large groups (PE…
Skeletal muscle Heat shock protein 60 increases after endurance training and induces peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1 α…
2016
AbstractHeat shock protein 60 (Hsp60) is a chaperone localizing in skeletal muscle mitochondria, whose role is poorly understood. In the present study, the levels of Hsp60 in fibres of the entire posterior group of hindlimb muscles (gastrocnemius, soleus and plantaris) were evaluated in mice after completing a 6-week endurance training program. The correlation between Hsp60 levels and the expression of four isoforms of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1 alpha (PGC1α) were investigated only in soleus. Short-term overexpression of hsp60, achieved by in vitro plasmid transfection, was then performed to determine whether this chaperone could have a role in the activa…