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Everyone knows that exercise helps lose weight and control weight. But why can exercise play these roles? After exercise, what changes will happen to various cells, genes and molecules in the muscles and fats throughout the body? A new study on the "Cell" sub-issue Cell Metabolism answered in detail.
This study was conducted in collaboration with Professor Laurie J. Goodyear of Harvard University’s Joslin Diabetes Center and Manolis Kellis, a professor of computer science at MIT. The research team designed a controlled experiment, using single-cell RNA sequencing method, and compared the changes in the different cell components of three types of tissues, namely skeletal muscle , visceral fat , and subcutaneous fat , , after three weeks of exercise, respectively.
Researchers divided and sorted out the responses of 53 different types of cells to motor and obesity, and found obvious expression changes in 1386 genes in three tissues.
▲Experimental diagram: One group of mice had normal diet as a control, and one group gained weight by eating high-fat foods; next, half of the mice in each group could run at any time, while the other half was locked in a boring mouse cage without exercise (Picture source: Reference [1])
No surprise, In various cells of muscle and fat, obesity and exercise have completely opposite effects .
For example, in muscle and adipose tissue, researchers have found that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are significantly affected by obesity and exercise. mesenchymal stem cells can differentiate into other types of cells, such as adipocytes and fibrocellular . In adipose tissue, the high-fat diet allowed mesenchymal stem cells to enhance differentiation to fat-storing cells, while exercise reversed this effect.
These data further show which molecular pathways are regulated by exercise and obesity. Among them, extracellular matrix (ECM) and genes that regulate circadian rhythms are particularly notable.
▲Obacteria and exercise have opposite effects on the cellular components of subcutaneous fat (scWAT), visceral fat (vWAT) and skeletal muscle (SkM) (Image source: Reference [1])
extracellular matrix is composed of macromolecules secreted by cells from the extracellular region, providing support for the survival and activity of cells. obesity upregulates ECM-related molecular pathway , reshaping ECM provides more venues for fat storage cells and creates a more inflammatory environment; exercise downregulates ECM-related pathways.
circadian rhythm is the biological clock that comes with the body. The fluctuations and fluctuations of many physiological functions such as sleep, body temperature to digestion, hormone secretion within 24 hours are regulated by the circadian rhythm. This study shows that exercise can promote the expression of genes that regulate circadian rhythms , but a high-fat diet will inhibit these rhythms.
Although these data are from mouse experiments, the researchers compared the results with the human gene database and found that the two circadian rhythm genes observed in mouse experiments (DBP and CDKN1A) were associated with genetic variations that increased the risk of obesity in humans.
"These results help us see the transformational value of these molecular targets and how we target specific biological processes for specific cell types," noted Dr. Jiekun Yang, the first author of the research paper.
▲Research diagram (Picture source: Reference [1])
Due to changes in diet and living habits, obesity has become an increasingly health problem worldwide. More and more studies have shown that obesity and overweight are risk factors for many diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, Alzheimer's disease , and infectious diseases including COVID-19 infection.
. The large amount of data provided by this study clearly shows that exercise can effectively fight obesity from the basic level. It is not difficult to understand why exercise can bring many systemic benefits , not only to control weight, but also enhance immune function and delay aging.
Of course, by understanding the molecular changes caused by exercise to various tissues and cell types, scientists are also expected to discover potential drug targets to simulate or enhance the benefits of exercise, benefiting more people . "This study tells everyone to eat healthy food and exercise as much as possible," Professor Kellis concluded. "But some people may find it difficult to obtain healthy food, or they may be difficult to exercise due to disability and other reasons, or they cannot live in a healthy way just because there is no time constraints. The message this study wants to convey is that we now have a more comprehensive understanding of specific molecular pathways and specific genes, and are expected to be treated by manipulating specific molecular and cellular processes."
Reference:
[1] Jiekun Yang et al., (2022) Single-cell dissection of the obesity-exercise axis in adipose-muscle tissues implies a critical role for mesenchymal stem cells. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2022.09.004
[2] Exercise and obesity have opposite impact on muscle, fat tissues, researchers demonstrate. Retrieved Oct. 10, 2022 from https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/966981
[3] Scientists chart how exercise affects the body. Retrieved Oct. 10, 2022 https://news.mit.edu/2022/genes-pathways-exercise-fat-loss-1004
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