Exercise training increases skeletal muscle mitochondrial volume density by enlargement of existing mitochondria and not de novo biogenesis - PubMed (original) (raw)

doi: 10.1111/apha.12905. Epub 2017 Jul 6.

R A Jacobs 1 2, S Gehrig 1, J de Leur 1, M Hauser 1, T C Bonne 1, D Flück 1, S Dandanell 3, N Kirk 1, A Kaech 4, U Ziegler 4, S Larsen 3, C Lundby 1

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Exercise training increases skeletal muscle mitochondrial volume density by enlargement of existing mitochondria and not de novo biogenesis

A-K Meinild Lundby et al. Acta Physiol (Oxf). 2018 Jan.

Abstract

Aims: (i) To determine whether exercise-induced increases in muscle mitochondrial volume density (MitoVD ) are related to enlargement of existing mitochondria or de novo biogenesis and (ii) to establish whether measures of mitochondrial-specific enzymatic activities are valid biomarkers for exercise-induced increases in MitoVD .

Method: Skeletal muscle samples were collected from 21 healthy males prior to and following 6 weeks of endurance training. Transmission electron microscopy was used for the estimation of mitochondrial densities and profiles. Biochemical assays, western blotting and high-resolution respirometry were applied to detect changes in specific mitochondrial functions.

Result: MitoVD increased with 55 ± 9% (P < 0.001), whereas the number of mitochondrial profiles per area of skeletal muscle remained unchanged following training. Citrate synthase activity (CS) increased (44 ± 12%, P < 0.001); however, there were no functional changes in oxidative phosphorylation capacity (OXPHOS, CI+IIP ) or cytochrome c oxidase (COX) activity. Correlations were found between MitoVD and CS (P = 0.01; r = 0.58), OXPHOS, CI+CIIP (P = 0.01; R = 0.58) and COX (P = 0.02; R = 0.52) before training; after training, a correlation was found between MitoVD and CS activity only (P = 0.04; R = 0.49). Intrinsic respiratory capacities decreased (P < 0.05) with training when respiration was normalized to MitoVD. This was not the case when normalized to CS activity although the percentage change was comparable. CONCLUSIONS: MitoVD was increased by inducing mitochondrial enlargement rather than de novo biogenesis. CS activity may be appropriate to track training-induced changes in MitoVD.

Keywords: adaptations; mitochondria; muscle; training; volume density.

© 2017 Scandinavian Physiological Society. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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