2023-06-19 03:56:15
The experts focused on changes at the metabolic level during physical activity (Getty)
It is clear that sport provides benefits for the body, such as caring for cardiovascular health and reducing the risk of depression, among others. That is why science sought to go further and is now wondering what happens in the cells of the human body while we exercise.
In this sense, experts from Stanford University, in the United States, analyzed at the metabolic level the molecules secreted by cells during physical activity. According to the researchers, these molecules, which are often known as exerquines, could play a role in preventing health problems such as obesity, heart disease and diabetes.
“However, until now, it has been impossible to isolate exerquinas from blood. If you analyze whole blood, you can only see the most abundant substances in it and everything else is invisible”, explained Jonathan Long, one of the authors of the work.
And he added: “For a long time, researchers have been fascinated by the possibility that exercise causes various cells in our bodies to produce molecules that benefit human health.”
Exerquins influence cardiovascular and immune health, among other benefits (Getty)
In the study, which was published In the journal Cell Metabolism, Long and his colleagues worked in mouse models and found that exercise influences the secretion of nearly 200 proteins—which are molecules—from 21 different cell types. “This means that the effects of physical activity are widespread in many tissues and organ systems. We are just beginning to understand that complexity,” the expert stressed.
In this framework, according to the finding, the cells that best responded to exercise were those related to a receptor found on their surface, scientifically known as Pdgfra, which is found in tissues and organs. “In contrast, muscle, bone, and liver cells had only moderate responses,” Long noted.
He cautioned: “If we really want to understand the response to exercise, we can’t just focus on muscle and bone and the other tissues that we associate with exercise: we have to look much broader.”
Second, the researchers observed that liver cells secreted carboxylesterase proteins after exercise. These proteins are associated with better metabolic health.
The results of this study show that exercise has far more widespread benefits than are already known, according to author Jonathan Long (Getty).
To reach these results, the specialists used animal models, such as mice. To do this, they developed a technique that allowed them to deeply identify the molecules secreted by cells when they exercised.
Subsequently, they worked with mice that secreted elevated levels of carboxylesterase proteins without exercising, and noted that there was “resistance to weight gain.” “We show anti-obesity, anti-diabetic, and sports performance-enhancing activities for intracellular carboxylesterase proteoforms whose secretion from the liver is induced by physical training,” the authors explained.
While Long, for his part, stressed: “These carboxylesterases are sufficient to confer some of the metabolic benefits of exercise without the animals exercising.”
In the text of the study, the scientists postulated that, in recent years, “there has been enormous interest in the identification and characterization of soluble or secreted exercise-inducible molecules transported in the blood. These circulating molecules, which have been called exerkines or exercise factors, are secreted signaling molecules that function as molecular effectors of physical activity.
The experts worked with mouse models and observed the secretion of various proteins (Getty)
In this vein, for the experts, “physical activity is a powerful physiological stimulus that provides benefits to many organ systems and confers protection against diseases. Rather, physical inactivity is a major contributor to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.
“The magnitude of the benefits of physical activity is comparable, and in some cases even greater, than currently available first-line drug treatments. The mechanisms responsible for the benefits of exercise are not fully understood.
Under these precepts, Long stated: “We know that exercise has a therapeutic effect on many of the most chronic and debilitating diseases, but exercise is still not like a medicine. This is because most drugs consist of well-defined molecules with well-defined mechanisms of action, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, and adverse effects. Conversely, none of those things are well defined for exercise.”
“In the long term, we want to understand the molecules and cells associated with exercise in high resolution so that exercise, as a medicine, can become a reality,” concluded the expert.
For the authors, sport protects against diseases in various body systems (Getty)
It is clear that the benefits of physical activity for the body are multiple and, day by day, science advances in new findings that expand the list. It is that, according to specialists at the Mayo Clinic, “regular exercise helps prevent or manage many health problems and concerns, including metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, depression, anxiety, various types of cancer, arthritis and falls. It can also help improve cognitive function and helps reduce the risk of death from all causes.”
Keep reading:
Why from the age of 40 is the best time to increase the level of physical activityPhysical activity: a key tool to treat addictionsWhat time of day is best to exercise, according to science
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