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Activating Autophagy by Aerobic Exercise in Mice
Published on: February 3, 2017
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Hepatic LC3 II/I ratio is not modulated in exercised mice
B B Marafon1, A P Pinto, A L da Rocha
1School of Physical Education and Sport of Ribeirao Preto, University of Sao Paulo (USP), Ribeirao Preto, Sao Paulo, Brazil. adelinosanchez@usp.br.
Physiological Research
|November 1, 2020
Summary
Acute exercise impacts autophagy protein LC3B. Concurrent exercise, combining endurance and resistance, decreased the LC3B II/I ratio in mouse livers 12 hours post-exercise, unlike other protocols.
Area of Science:
- Cell Biology
- Exercise Physiology
- Molecular Biology
Background:
- Autophagy is crucial for maintaining body homeostasis.
- Microtubule-associated protein 1A/1B-light chain 3 (LC3) is a key protein in autophagy, with LC3-II formation indicating autophagosome activity.
- Understanding how different exercise types affect autophagy is vital for health and performance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effect of different acute exercise protocols on the LC3B II/I ratio in mouse livers.
- To determine the time-course of changes in the LC3B II/I ratio following resistance, endurance, and concurrent exercise.
Main Methods:
- Eight-week-old male C57BL/6 mice were divided into control, resistance exercise (RE), endurance exercise (EE), and concurrent exercise (CE) groups.
- Mice underwent a single bout of their assigned exercise protocol.
- Liver tissues were collected at different time points and analyzed using immunoblotting to quantify the hepatic LC3B II/I ratio.
Main Results:
- Neither resistance nor endurance exercise significantly altered the hepatic LC3B II/I ratio at any time point.
- Concurrent exercise led to a decrease in the hepatic LC3B II/I ratio 12 hours post-exercise compared to baseline and 18 hours.
- There were no significant differences in the hepatic LC3B II/I ratio among the exercise protocols when analyzed over the time-course.
Conclusions:
- Acute resistance and endurance exercise do not appear to significantly influence the hepatic LC3B II/I ratio.
- Concurrent exercise acutely decreases the hepatic LC3B II/I ratio, suggesting a specific impact on autophagosome dynamics.
- The findings highlight that exercise modality can differentially affect autophagy markers in the liver.
