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Review
. 2014 Feb 18;129(7):798-810.
doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.113.001590.

Running forward: new frontiers in endurance exercise biology

Glenn C Rowe  1 , Adeel Safdar, Zolt Arany
Affiliations
Review

Running forward: new frontiers in endurance exercise biology

Glenn C Rowe et al. Circulation. .
No abstract available

Keywords: aging; exercise; heart; metabolism; muscle, skeletal; physical endurance.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: None

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The many long-term benefits of regular endurance exercise.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Simplified overview of muscle fiber types. Muscle consists of cellular syncitia called fibers, which often span from tendon to tendon. Individual fibers have specific attributes, dictated by their myofibrillar and metabolic makeup, and ranging from fast and glycolytic, to slow and mostly oxidative. Most human muscles comprise mixtures of fiber types. Exercise and other stimuli can alter fiber type profiles. Endurance exercise promotes conversion to more oxidative/slow fiber phenotype, a process that requires activation of various programs of gene expression (see Figure 3).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Modular signaling pathways that underpin muscular adaptations to endurance exercise. Exercise triggers patterns of innervation and metabolic perturbations that are sensed by skeletal muscle. These inputs activate intermediate signaling mechanisms, including calcium-mediated signaling and metabolic sensing pathways like AMPK and SIRT. These signals ultimately impinge on groups of transcription factors, each of which controls a broad biological module, such as mitochondrial biogenesis or control of fatty acid transport and metabolism. Adaptations to exercise can thus be regulated in a modular fashion.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Mighty mice. Left: sample images of skinned mice from control (top) and mice genetically engineered to over-express PGC-1beta in skeletal myotubes. High levels of myoglobin and mitochondria render the muscles red (bottom). Myofibers have high oxidative capacity, and the mice are capable of running further and harder on treadmill endurance tests. Right: other known genetic mouse models with increased mitochondrial capacity in skeletal muscle. mTg: myotube-specific over-expression via transgenesis. mKO: myotubes-specific deletion (knockout) of the indicated gene. KO: total-body knockout of the indicated gene.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Muscle as an endocrine organ. Exercise triggers the secretion from muscle of numerous factors that impinge on systemic function. See text for details.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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