* is for medical professionals to read only for reference
exercise, which is originally the easiest to obtain and the lowest cost of "good medicine". A large number of studies have shown that routine physical activities in can reduce the risk of chronic diseases, improve cognitive function, and reduce the risk of all-cause death . Long-term persistence and maintaining appropriate frequency of exercise are related to better health benefits [1].
However, for many people now, sports only exist in words, web favorites, and dreams. Even if you make up your mind to start, you will complete it within a few days from getting started to entering the bed, turning a treadmill into a clothes drying rack, and turning a yoga mat into a doghouse. For example, the energy that Singularity Cake invests in sports has been reflected recently in staying up late to watch the World Cup.
Is it because I don’t want to stick to jump rope, run, and jump Liu Genghong every day? no!
Recently, an article published in the journal " Nature " stated that if you don't have the motivation to maintain the good habit of exercise, intestinal bacterial flora also has a place to speak [2].
Christoph A. Thaiss of the University of Pennsylvania and his colleagues found that intestinal bacterial flora and its metabolites can activate sensory neurons in the intestinal tract, thus transmitting information to the brain, resulting in a surge in the brain striatum dopamine levels induced by movement, enhancing motivation for exercise, and causing mice to love exercise more. Supplementing intestinal flora or its metabolites can improve the motility of mice .
The paper homepage screenshot
Some people cannot exercise, but personal constitution does not allow it. After all, 's exercise ability is related to the functions of the musculoskeletal system, circulatory system, and respiratory system . Others lack motivation. cannot feel the happiness brought by exercise, that is, it is insufficient motivation. It is a chemical reaction between the brain nerves and movements. [3].
In order to mobilize everyone's enthusiasm for movement and prevent the expansion of their power, scientists have put in great pain. A study a few days ago showed that even if it is a short period of one or two minutes of intense activities, such as catching buses, carrying heavy shopping bags, climbing stairs, etc., it is significantly related to the decrease in the risk of death, and it is the lowest-threshold exercise method in history [4].
This time, Christoph A. Thaiss and others "cast widespread nets". They observed the athletic performance of 199 mice on treadmills or running wheels (such as number of strokes, endurance), collected their genomic information, intestinal microbiota structure, blood metabolites and other physiological parameters and analyzed them to find out new factors that determine exercise ability.
results show that consistent with previous research conclusions, the contribution of genetic factors to the differences in motor ability between individuals is very small. So, the researchers turned their attention to the intestinal bacteria.
Research has emphasized that intestinal microbiota has potential effects on affecting motor ability, such as helping the body remove molecules related to physical failure, but there is still a mystery to be solved [5,6]. Here, the researchers transplanted the intestinal microbiota of mice with different motor abilities into the intestinal tract of germ-based mice, and found that the latter was comparable to the former motor abilities of . In contrast, if the intestinal microbiota of is used to clear the mice with broad-spectrum antibiotics, it can be observed that the mouse's motor ability has decreased by up to 50%; after the drug is stopped, the mouse's motor ability has recovered .
These instructions: intestinal flora plays an important role in the motor ability of mice.
Without enteric bacteria, mice have poor motor ability
By using different antibiotics combinations to treat mice and 16S rRNA gene sequencing and other technologies, the researchers further identified two key intestinal bacteria that affect mice's motor ability, namely Eubacterium rectale and Coprococcus eutactus.
So, how do intestinal flora get mixed into the field of exercise?
Researchers observed that some of the mice treated with who received antibiotics decreased muscle mass . However, data such as transcriptomics and oxygen consumption show that is not the main factor that causes the decline in motor ability in the lack of intestinal microbiota .
As mentioned earlier, in addition to skeletal muscles, motivation is also one of the determinants of motor ability. exercise will induce a surge in striatal dopamine levels and activation of striatal neurons, allowing the brain to feel the joy of movement, generate motivation for movement, and then motivate the brain to participate in more competitive or recreational exercises [2].
research results show that intestinal bacterial flora have indeed deeply affected the brains of mice.
In the striatum, dopamine is degraded by monoamine oxidase (MAO). Researchers found that colonization of intestinal bacteria can reduce MAO levels in the striatum of mice, thereby enhancing striatum dopamine levels, activate striatum neurons, allowing mice to enjoy more happiness brought by exercise, and fall in love with running wheels and treadmills.
For mice treated with antibiotics and lacking intestinal flora, can be restored after is treated with MAO inhibitors, re-colonizing intestinal flora, and artificially enhancing dopamine signaling in the striatum.
o: Intestinal microbiota colonization is related to the expression level of the gene encoding MAO;
p: MAO inhibitors can save the motor ability of mice lacking intestinal microbiota
0 The bacteria far away in the intestinal remotely control the brain. This is no longer new. It is mainly achieved by regulating the immune system function, releasing metabolites into the blood, and stimulating intestinal neurons. This time, what tricks did the intestinal bacteria use?
Researchers found that the metabolite fatty acid amides (FAAs) produced by the intestinal flora of can activate sensory neurons in the intestine that expresses TRPV1 molecule by acting on cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1), thereby transmitting signals to brain neurons, reducing MAO levels and stimulating the striatum.
Intestinal microbiota regulates brain dopamine levels and stimulates movement
Based on this discovery, researchers tried to save the mice's motility ability. The results showed that directly supplementing FAAs to mice with intestinal flora deficits, or colonization of intestinal intestinal flora that can produce FAA can lead to a surge in exercise-induced striatal dopamine levels and improve the mice's motility ability on running wheels and treadmills.
Of course, the premise is that when mice are exercising, it will be useless if supplements FAAs for sedentary mice, and the movement of mice has not improved . After all, FAAs or intestinal bacteria can be said to be the joy of amplifying movement, and it is not driven by movement. Multiplying 0 by almost all is 0.
Supplementation of FAAs can help mice improve their motivational
Overall, Christoph A. Thailand and colleagues revealed that is motivated neural circuit mediated by striatal dopamine, which can be regulated through intestinal microbiota. Intestinal flora and its metabolite FAAs can enhance the motivation of mice and improve the motivation ability of mice by acting on the sensory nerves in the intestine.
researchers said that the research results also mean that is not only a motivation for exercise, but other behaviors that rely on striatal dopamine signal regulation may also be changed through lifestyle interventions, diet or dietary supplements.
If this conclusion can be proved in the human body in the future, it will be the redemption of the lazy people sitting for a long time. Reform the intestinal bacteria, and then the singularity cake spontaneously goes downstairs to jump rope and run. It makes you feel so self-disciplined.
References:
[1]Agirman, G., Hsiao, E. Y. (2022). Gut microbes shape athletic motivation. Nature, 10.1038/d41586-022-04355-3. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-04355-3
[2]https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05525-z#citeas
[3]Hawley, J. A., Hargreaves, M., Joyner, M. J. Zierath, J. R. Integrative biology of exercise. Cell 159, 738–749 (2014).
[4]Stamatakis, E., Ahmadi, M.N., Gill, J.M.R. et al. Association of wearable device-measured vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity with mortality. Nat Med (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-022-02100-x
[5]Okamoto, T. et al. Am. J. Physiol. Endocrinol. Metab. 316,E956–E966 (2019).
[6]Scheiman, J. et al. Nature Med. 25, 1104–1109 (2019).
Author of this article丨Eddie Zhang
