Regular Endurance Exercise Promotes Fission, Mitophagy, and Oxidative Phosphorylation in Human Skeletal Muscle Independently of Age
Open accessAbstract
This study investigated whether regular endurance exercise maintains basal mitophagy and mitochondrial function during aging. Mitochondrial proteins and total mRNA were isolated from vastus lateralis biopsies (n=33) of young sedentary (YS), old sedentary (OS), young active (YA) and old active (OA) men. Markers for mitophagy, fission, fusion, mitogenesis and mitochondrial metabolism were assessed using qRT-PCR, Western blot and immunofluorescence staining. Independently of age, fission protein Fis1 was higher in active vs sedentary subjects (+80%; P<0.05). Mitophagy protein PARKIN was more elevated in OA than in OS (+145%; P=0.0026). mRNA expression of Beclin1 and Gabarap, involved in autophagosomes synthesis, were lower in OS compared to YS and OA (P<0.05). Fusion and oxidative phosphorylation proteins were globally more elevated in the active groups (P<0.05), while COx activity was only higher in OA than in OS (P=0.032). Transcriptional regulation of mitogenesis did not vary with age or exercise. In conclusion, physically active lifestyle seems to participate in the maintenance of lifelong mitochondrial quality control by increasing fission and mitophagy.
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A majority of evidence shows that better muscle and mitochondrial health occur concomitantly with elevated markers of mitochondrial fission, mitophagy receptors, and oxidative phosphorylation in human skeletal muscle of older adults who are active or who completed an exercise training program.
“A majority of evidence shows that better muscle and mitochondrial health occur concomitantly with elevated markers of mitochondrial fission, mitophagy receptors, and oxidative phosphorylation in human skeletal muscle of older adults who are active (Balan et al., 2019; Drummond et al., 2014; Tezze et al., 2017) or who completed an exercise training program (Konopka et al., 2014).”
From Autophagy gene expression in skeletal muscle of older individuals is associated with physical performance, muscle volume and mitochondrial function in the study of muscle, mobility and aging ( <scp>SOMMA</scp> ) (2024) · cites this paper as Balan et al., 2019
The Results sections on fission and mitophagy markers and on oxidative phosphorylation report higher Fis1, mitochondrial PARKIN, and several oxidative-phosphorylation proteins in active versus sedentary older men. But BNIP3, a mitophagy receptor, was unchanged, and the study does not establish better overall muscle health; those parts of the claim go beyond its findings. Page numbers were not available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredSeveral studies did not detect any impact of aging on Opa1 content in skeletal muscle of aged mice, rats, and humans.
“However, several studies did not detect any impact of aging on Opa1 content in the skeletal muscle of aged mice [52,54], rats [50], and humans [57,58].”
From Mitochondrial Dynamics and Mitophagy in Skeletal Muscle Health and Aging (2021) · cites this paper as [57]
Physical activity stimulates mitophagy.
“was recently shown to stimulate mitophagy [57,153,167,168]”
From Mitochondrial Dynamics and Mitophagy in Skeletal Muscle Health and Aging (2021) · cites this paper as [57]
Physical activity increases Parkin expression in the skeletal muscles of rodents and humans.
“and increase Parkin expression in the skeletal muscles of rodents [153] and humans [57,168]”
From Mitochondrial Dynamics and Mitophagy in Skeletal Muscle Health and Aging (2021) · cites this paper as [57]
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References 44 · Cited by 104
- Authors
- Balan, E., Schwalm, C., Naslain, D., Nielens, H., Francaux, M., & Deldicque, L.
- Affiliations
- UCLouvain (BE)
- Corresponding author
- Deldicque, Louise
- Venue
- Frontiers in Physiology
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2019-08-22
- Volume
- 10
- Pages
- 1088-1088
- ISSN
- 1664-042X (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6713923
- OpenAlex
- W2965478824
- Cited by
- 104
- References
- 44
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 2
- FWCI
- 3.97
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Frontiers in Physiology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DIAL (Catholic University of Leuven) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Mitochondrial Function and Pathology
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Autophagy in Disease and Therapy
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Muscle Physiology and Disorders
- Keywords
- endurance exercise, mitochondrial fission, mitophagy, mitochondrial fusion, oxidative phosphorylation, skeletal muscle, aging, Fis1, Parkin, Beclin-1, GABARAP, autophagy, mitochondrial quality control, mitochondrial biogenesis, vastus lateralis, sedentary lifestyle
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