Enzymatic and genetic adaptation of soleus muscle mitochondria to physical training in rats.

To evaluate the effects of physical training on mitochondrial gene expression and mitochondrial biogenesis in slow-twitch muscle, adult female Sprague-Dawley rats were trained for 3, 6, and 12 wk by running on a motor-driven treadmill (speed of 25 m/min and duration of 90 min/day, 5 days/wk), and the activities of citrate synthase, ubiquinol-cytochrome-c oxidoreductase, cytochrome oxidase, mitochondrial cytochrome b mRNA (by Northern blot analysis), and mitochondrial DNA (by slot-blot and Southern blot analyses) were measured in rat soleus muscle. A DNA probe for detection of mitochondrial mRNA and DNA was prepared from a 1,500-bp fragment of human mitochondrial DNA that included the coding region of the cytochrome b gene. Training for 3, 6, and 12 wk significantly increased the activities of citrate synthase (31, 28, and 47%, respectively), ubiquinol-cytochrome-c oxidoreductase (61, 63, and 77%, respectively), and cytochrome oxidase (25, 26, and 32%, respectively) in muscle. The concentration of cytochrome b mRNA in the muscle was proportionally elevated with the enzyme activities. On the other hand, the mitochondrial DNA concentration in the muscle was not altered by training for 3 or 6 wk but increased significantly after training for 12 wk (35% in the slot-blot analysis and 31% in the Southern blot analysis). These results suggest that an increase in the oxidative capacity of slow-twitch muscle by the relatively short-term training is regulated at the pretranslational step in mitochondrial protein synthesis but that the increase by the long-term training involves mitochondrial replication.