Branched-chain amino acid supplementation and voluntary running have distinct effects on the serum metabolome of rats with high or low intrinsic aerobic capacity.

Introduction: A growing body of literature associates branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) catabolism to increased fatty acid oxidation and better metabolic health. Hence, BCAA-rich diets may improve body composition and muscle protein synthesis. However, the role of individual characteristics such as a low aerobic fitness, a well-established risk factor for cardio-metabolic diseases, has not been studied.

The effects of endurance trainability phenotype, sex, and interval running training on bone collagen synthesis in adult rats.

Bone is influenced by many factors such as genetics and mechanical loading, but the short-term physiological effects of these factors on bone (re)modelling are not well characterised. This study investigated the effects of endurance trainability phenotype, sex, and interval running training (7-week intervention) on bone collagen formation in rats using a deuterium oxide stable isotope tracer method. Bone samples of the femur diaphysis, proximal tibia, mid-shaft tibia, and distal tibia were collected after necropsy from forty-six 9 ± 3-month male and female rats selectively bred for yielding low (LRT) or high (HRT) responses to endurance training.

Metformin treatment results in distinctive skeletal muscle mitochondrial remodeling in rats with different intrinsic aerobic capacities.

The rationale for the use of metformin as a treatment to slow aging was largely based on data collected from metabolically unhealthy individuals. For healthspan extension metformin will also be used in periods of good health. To understand the potential context specificity of metformin treatment on skeletal muscle, we used a rat model (high-capacity runner/low-capacity runner [HCR/LCR]) with a divide in intrinsic aerobic capacity.

Mitochondria Transplantation: Rescuing Innate Muscle Bioenergetic Impairment in a Model of Aging and Exercise Intolerance.

Arroum, T, Hish, GA, Burghardt, KJ, Ghamloush, M, Bazzi, B, Mrech, A, Morse, PT, Britton, SL, Koch, LG, McCully, JD, Hüttemann, M, and Malek, MH. Mitochondria transplantation: Rescuing innate muscle bioenergetic impairment in a model of aging and exercise intolerance. J Strength Cond Res 38(7): 1189-1199, 2024-Mitochondria, through oxidative phosphorylation, are crucial for energy production.

Intrinsic aerobic capacity modulates Alzheimer's disease pathological hallmarks, brain mitochondrial function and proteome during aging.

Low aerobic capacity is strongly associated with all-cause mortality and risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Individuals with early dementia and AD have lower aerobic capacity compared to age-matched controls. The mechanism by which aerobic capacity influences AD risk is unknown but is likely mediated by sexual dimorphism and tissue-level differences in mitochondrial energetics.

Inherited physical capacity: Widening divergence from young to adult to old.

Cardiorespiratory performance segregates into rat strains of inherited low- and high-capacity runners (LCRs and HCRs); during adulthood, this segregation remains stable, but widens in senescence and is followed by segregated function, health, and mortality. However, this segregation has not been investigated prior to adulthood. We, therefore, assessed cardiorespiratory performance and cardiac cell (cardiomyocyte) structure-function in 1- and 4-month-old LCRs and HCRs.

Metformin treatment results in distinctive skeletal muscle mitochondrial remodeling in rats with different intrinsic aerobic capacities.

The rationale for the use of metformin as a treatment to slow aging was largely based on data collected from metabolically unhealthy individuals. For healthspan extension metformin will also be used in periods of good health. To understand potential context specificity of metformin treatment on skeletal muscle, we used a rat model (HCR/LCR) with a divide in intrinsic aerobic capacity.

Exercise Training Differentially Affects Skeletal Muscle Mitochondria in Rats with Inherited High or Low Exercise Capacity.

Exercise capacity has been related to morbidity and mortality. It consists of an inherited and an acquired part and is dependent on mitochondrial function. We assessed skeletal muscle mitochondrial function in rats with divergent inherited exercise capacity and analyzed the effect of exercise training.

Intrinsic running capacity associates with hippocampal electrophysiology and long-term potentiation in rats.

Good aerobic and metabolic fitness associates with better cognitive performance and brain health. Conversely, poor metabolic health predisposes to neurodegenerative diseases. Our previous findings indicate that rats selectively bred for Low Capacity for Running (LCR) show less synaptic plasticity and more inflammation in the hippocampus and perform worse in tasks requiring flexible cognition than rats bred for High Capacity for Running (HCR).

Parental cardiorespiratory fitness influences early life energetics and metabolic health.

High cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is associated with a reduced risk of metabolic disease and is linked to superior mitochondrial respiratory function. This study investigated how intrinsic CRF affects bioenergetics and metabolic health in adulthood and early life. Adult rats selectively bred for low and high running capacity [low capacity runners (LCR) and high capacity runners (HCR), respectively] underwent metabolic phenotyping before mating.

Divergence in aerobic capacity and energy expenditure influence metabolic tissue mitochondrial protein synthesis rates in aged rats.

Age-associated declines in aerobic capacity promote the development of various metabolic diseases. In rats selectively bred for high/low intrinsic aerobic capacity, greater aerobic capacity reduces susceptibility to metabolic disease while increasing longevity. However, little remains known how intrinsic aerobic capacity protects against metabolic disease, particularly with aging.

Reduced contextually induced muscle thermogenesis in rats with calorie restriction and lower aerobic fitness but not monogenic obesity.

We have previously identified predator odor as a potent stimulus activating thermogenesis in skeletal muscle in rats. As this may prove relevant for energy balance and weight loss, the current study investigated whether skeletal muscle thermogenesis was altered with negative energy balance, obesity propensity seen in association with low intrinsic aerobic fitness, and monogenic obesity. First, weight loss subsequent to 3 wk of 50% calorie restriction suppressed the muscle thermogenic response to predator odor.

Genotype determining aerobic exercise capacity associates with behavioral plasticity in middle-aged rats.

Good aerobic fitness associates positively with cognitive performance and brain health and conversely, low aerobic fitness predisposes to neurodegenerative diseases. To study how genotype together with exercise, started at older age, affects brain and behavior, we utilized rats that differ in inherited aerobic fitness. Rats bred for Low Capacity for Running (LCR) are shown to display less synaptic plasticity and more inflammation in the hippocampus and perform worse than rats bred for a High Capacity for Running (HCR) in tasks requiring flexible cognition.

Intrinsic cardiorespiratory fitness modulates clinical and molecular response to caloric restriction.

Objective: Caloric restriction (CR) is one extrinsic intervention that can improve metabolic health, and it shares many phenotypical parallels with intrinsic high cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), including reduced adiposity, increased cardiometabolic health, and increased longevity. CRF is a highly heritable trait in humans and has been established in a genetic rat model selectively bred for high (HCR) and low (LCR) CRF, in which the HCR live longer and have reduced body weight compared to LCR. This study addresses whether the inherited high CRF phenotype occurs through similar mechanisms by which CR promotes health and longevity.

Altered skeletal muscle sarco-endoplasmic reticulum Ca-ATPase calcium transport efficiency after a thermogenic stimulus.

Exposure to predator threat induces a rapid and robust increase in skeletal muscle thermogenesis in rats. The central nervous system relays threat information to skeletal muscle through activation of the sympathetic nervous system, but muscle mechanisms mediating this thermogenesis remain unidentified. Given the relevance of sarcolipin-mediated futile calcium cycling through the sarco-endoplasmic reticulum Ca-ATPase (SERCA) pump to mammalian muscle nonshivering thermogenesis, we hypothesized that this plays a role in contextually induced muscle thermogenesis as well.

Rats with high aerobic capacity display enhanced transcriptional adaptability and upregulation of bile acid metabolism in response to an acute high-fat diet.

Rats selectively bred for the high intrinsic aerobic capacity runner (HCR) or low aerobic capacity runner (LCR) show pronounced differences in susceptibility for high-fat/high sucrose (HFHS) diet-induced hepatic steatosis and insulin resistance, replicating the protective effect of high aerobic capacity in humans. We have previously shown multiple systemic differences in energy and substrate metabolism that impacts steatosis between HCR and LCR rats. This study aimed to investigate hepatic-specific mechanisms of action via changes in gene transcription.

Biology: Motion is Function.

In 1966 Francis Crick declared that: "The ultimate aim of the modern movement in biology is to explain all biology in terms of physics and chemistry." This motivated us to contemplate approaches that unify biology at a fundamental level. Exploration led us to consider the features of energy, entropy, and motion.

Life-long exercise training and inherited aerobic endurance capacity produce converging gut microbiome signatures in rodents.

High aerobic endurance capacity can be acquired by training and/or inherited. Aerobic exercise training (AET) and aging are linked to altered gut microbiome composition, but it is unknown if the environmental stress of exercise and host genetics that predispose for higher exercise capacity have similar effects on the gut microbiome during aging. We hypothesized that exercise training and host genetics would have conserved effects on the gut microbiome across different rodents.

Age and Intrinsic Fitness Affect the Female Rotator Cuff Tendon Tissue.

The risk of the development of tendon disorders or ruptures increases with age, but it is unclear whether intrinsic fitness during lifetime might also affect tendon properties. To investigate this, a contrasting rat model of high-capacity runners (HCR with high intrinsic fitness) and low-capacity runners (LCR with low intrinsic fitness) was employed. Histological and molecular changes in rotator cuff (RC) tendons from 10 weeks old (young; HCR-10 and LCR-10) and 100 weeks old (old; HCR-100 and LCR-100) female rats were investigated.

Effect of short-term hindlimb immobilization on skeletal muscle atrophy and the transcriptome in a low compared with high responder to endurance training model.

Skeletal muscle atrophy is a physiological response to disuse, aging, and disease. We compared changes in muscle mass and the transcriptome profile after short-term immobilization in a divergent model of high and low responders to endurance training to identify biological processes associated with the early atrophy response. Female rats selectively bred for high response to endurance training (HRT) and low response to endurance training (LRT; n = 6/group; generation 19) underwent 3 day hindlimb cast immobilization to compare atrophy of plantaris and soleus muscles with line-matched controls (n = 6/group).

The Effect of Age and Intrinsic Aerobic Exercise Capacity on the Expression of Inflammation and Remodeling Markers in Rat Achilles Tendons.

Old age, adiposity, and metabolic disorders are known as risk factors for chronic tendinopathy, which is a common problem in both athletes and the general population. However, the importance of these influencing factors has not yet been well understood. This study investigated alterations in gene expression and histology of Achilles tendons of young (10 weeks) and old (100 weeks) rats bred for low (low capacity runners, LCR) and high (high capacity runners, HCR) intrinsic aerobic exercise capacity.

Intrinsic Aerobic Capacity Affects Hippocampal pAkt and HSP72 Response to an Acute High Fat Diet and Heat Treatment in Rats.

Background: Aerobic capacity is associated with metabolic, cardiovascular, and neurological health. Low-capacity runner (LCR) rats display low aerobic capacity, metabolic dysfuction, and spatial memory deficits. A heat treatment (HT) can improve metabolic dysfunction in LCR peripheral organs after high fat diet (HFD).

Genetically determined exercise capacity affects systemic glucose response to insulin in rats.

Aerobic exercise capacity is inversely related to morbidity and mortality as well as to insulin resistance. However, exercising in patients has led to conflicting results, presumably because aerobic exercise capacity consists of intrinsic (genetically determined) and extrinsic (environmentally determined) parts. The contribution of both parts to insulin sensitivity is also not clear.

Rats bred for low intrinsic aerobic exercise capacity link obesity with brain inflammation and reduced structural plasticity of the hippocampus.

Background: Increasing evidence shows obesity and poor metabolic health are associated with cognitive deficits, but the mechanistic connections have yet to be resolved. We studied rats selectively bred for low and high intrinsic aerobic capacity in order to test the association between low physical fitness, a genetic predisposition for obesity, and brain health. We hypothesized that low-capacity runner (LCR) rats with concurrently greater levels of adiposity would have increased hippocampal inflammation and reduced plasticity compared to the more physically fit high-capacity runner (HCR) rats.