The results of the study, published in the journal Sciences Advances, could serve as a basis for designing drugs that predispose to exercise and for developing personalized training plans.
The research was led by Guapalupe Sabio, from the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), the first signatories of the study are Leticia Herrera and Cintia Folgueira, from the Spanish National Cardiovascular Research Centre (CNIC), and scientists from various Spanish centres in the Canary Islands, Castile and Leon and Galicia also participated in the work.
Researchers have found that the muscle itself regulates the interest in exercise through a signaling pathway between the muscle and the brain that was previously unknown, and which is one of the pathways that determines whether a person exercises or feels the urge to do even more.
A stimulus for physical activity
Guadalupe Sabio explained to EFE that it was unknown how muscles control the desire to exercise or not, and that researchers have now verified how they send signals to the brain and discovered which proteins are activated to stimulate that desire to do physical activities.
Their work has also revealed that the proteins produced by the muscles during exercise regulate each other, thereby preventing the desire to exercise from harming the body itself, the CNIO reported in a press release released today.
The results are based on data obtained in animal models and also in humans -volunteers who performed controlled exercises and patients with obesity- and the conclusions suggest that the identified signaling pathway plays a crucial role in the regulation of physical activity in both animals and people and reinforces its clinical importance, given the known relationship between exercise habits, obesity and metabolic diseases.
The scientific explanation: when muscles contract repeatedly and intensely due to exercise, two proteins from the same family are activated (called “p38α” and “p38γ”), and the two regulate each other, so that the interest in performing physical activity is greater or lesser depending on how much each is activated.
And there is a third protein involved – interleukin 15 (IL-15); the activation of p38γ due to exercise induces the production of IL-15 and researchers have found that this protein has a direct effect on the part of the cerebral cortex that controls movement and its increase acts as a signal to the brain to enhance motor activity, which drives animals to be more active voluntarily.
Benefits already proven
Researchers have concluded that with training, the desire to exercise more remains, and that even in animals with a high-fat diet and obesity, constant exercise showed benefits, as it improved their metabolism and decreased the tendency to diabetes and fat accumulation.
Researchers have stressed that the relationship between these findings and obesity is fundamental, since it is the most common metabolic disorder worldwide and its prevalence and incidence are constantly increasing, so regular exercise is considered an effective strategy for both its prevention and treatment.
If it is confirmed that IL-15 is a blood marker of the desire to exercise, Guadalupe Sabio said, it will be possible to study whether different types of exercise (running, weights, CrossFit or others) stimulate more or less, or if they have the same effects on an obese person as on one who is not, which can help trainers design their programs more efficiently.
It would also open up the possibility, Guadalupe Sabio told EFE, of creating drugs derived from this protein (IL-15) for people with a greater need to benefit from the positive effects of physical exercise but with a lower tendency to do it and maintain it over time.
“When people exercise, they produce IL-15, which goes into their bloodstream and encourages them to exercise more,” the researcher explained, adding that obese people have lower levels of this protein in their blood and therefore less desire to exercise.
The study carried out by the researchers was based on an intense cycling exercise carried out by a group of people, but the researcher has stressed the need to expand it to check whether other types of exercise and sport stimulate this desire in the same way and to determine the relationship between the different levels of IL-15 and the activity of each person.
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