Habitual exercise induced resistance to oxidative stress
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 16, 2026

Measuring Oxidative Stress Resistance of Caenorhabditis elegans in 96-well Microtiter Plates
Published on: May 9, 2015
Koji Nakatani1, Masaharu Komatsu, Toyohiro Kato
1Department of Environmental Medicine, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Kagoshima University, Sakuragaoka, Kagoshima, 890-8544, Japan.
Abstract:
We investigated whether habitual exercise (HE) modulates levels of oxidative DNA damage and responsiveness to oxidative stress induced by renal carcinogen Fe-nitrilotriacetic acid (Fe-NTA). During a ten week protocol, two groups of rats either remained sedentary or underwent swimming for 15--60 min per day, 5 days per week, with or without a weight equivalent to 5% of their body weight. Then we injected Fe-NTA and sacrificed the rats 1 h after the injection. We determined the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in diaphragm and kidney, evaluated levels of 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8OHdG), catalase, and glutathione peroxidase, and assayed OGG1 protein levels in kidney. SOD activity in the diaphragm and kidney was increased in HE rats. By itself, HE had no effect on the level of 8OHdG, but it did significantly suppress induction of 8OHdG by Fe-NTA, and the amount of suppression correlated with intensity of exercise. These results suggest that HE induces resistance to oxidative stress and, at least at the initiation stage, inhibits carcinogenesis.
Related Concept Videos
Exercise and Muscle Performance
Endurance exercises
Endurance exercises involve running, swimming, or cycling, which require repetitive movements with low force output. When a person engages in endurance exercise, a few noticeable changes occur in their skeletal muscles. For instance, the number of capillaries...
Exercise and Cardiovascular Response
Light to moderate physical activity initiates a series of interconnected responses in the body. The heart rate modestly increases in anticipation of the workout, followed by widespread vasodilation as oxygen consumption by skeletal muscles increases. This results in decreased peripheral resistance, increased capillary blood flow, and accelerated...
Exercise and Cardiac Output
Sustained exercise increases the muscles' oxygen demand, which can be met...
Aging
Cellular Clock Theory
The cellular clock theory posits that the human lifespan is closely tied to the finite capacity of cells to divide, a phenomenon governed by telomeres, which are protective caps at the ends of...
Oxygen Requirements and Growth Patterns
