According to a study of men published in the journal ‘eLife’, scientists have shed new light on the effects of high intensity interval training (HIIT) in human skeletal muscle. The findings suggest that HIIT increases the amount of proteins in skeletal muscle that are essential for energy metabolism and muscle contraction, and chemically alters key metabolic proteins. These results may explain the beneficial effects of HIIT on metabolism and pave the way for further studies exploring how exercise affects these processes.
“Exercise has many beneficial effects that can help prevent and treat metabolic disease, and this is likely to be the result of changes in energy use by skeletal muscles. We wanted to understand how exercise alters the protein content of the muscles and how it regulates the activity of these proteins through a chemical reaction called acetylation,” says first and co-author Morten Hostrup, associate professor in the Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Acetylation occurs when a member of the group of small molecules, acetyl, it combines with other molecules and can affect the behavior of proteins. (Also read: World Health Day 2022: Increase Strength and Endurance with 15 Minutes of HIIT Yoga)
For their study, the team recruited eight healthy, untrained male volunteers to complete five weeks of high intensity cycling training. The men exercised three times a week, finishing four minutes of cycling at a target pace of more than 90% of their maximum heart rate, followed by a two-minute rest. They repeated this pattern four to five times per workout.
Using a technique called mass spectrometry, the team analyzed changes in the composition of 3,168 proteins in tissue samples collected from the participants’ thighs before the study and after they completed training. They also examined changes related to 1,263 lysine acetyl sites in 464 acetylated proteins.
Their analyzes showed an increase in the production of proteins used to build mitochondria, which produce energy in cells, and in proteins related to muscle contractions. The team also identified increased acetylation of mitochondrial proteins and enzymes that are involved in cellular energy production. In addition, they observed changes in the amount of proteins that reduce skeletal muscle’s sensitivity to calcium, which is essential for muscle contractions.
The results confirm some well-known changes in skeletal muscle proteins that occur after exercise, as well as identify new ones. For example, reduced sensitivity to calcium may explain why it may be more difficult for muscle contraction to occur after an athlete fatigues. The work also suggests that exercise-induced changes in protein regulation through acetylation may contribute to stimulating metabolism.
“Using state-of-the-art proteomics technology, our study provides new insights into how skeletal muscle adapts to physical training, including the identification of novel exercise-regulated proteins and acetyl sites,” concludes co-corresponding author Atul Deshmukh, Associate Professor at the Center for Basic Metabolic Research of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, University of Copenhagen. “We hope that our work will stimulate more research on how exercise helps improve metabolic health in humans.”
This story has been published from a news agency source with no changes to the text. Only the headline has been changed.
.
