Extracellular Vesicles Provide a Means for Tissue Crosstalk during Exercise
- Journal:
- Cell Metabolism
- Published:
- DOI:
- 10.1016/j.cmet.2017.12.001
- Affiliations:
- 12
- Authors:
- 20
Research Highlight
Working up cellular crosstalk
© Blend Images/John Lund/Marc Romanelli/Getty
Tiny molecular packages known as vesicles
circulate in the bloodstream during exercise to dispatch protein messages
between muscles and the liver — a feat of biochemical communication that helps
explain how the body coordinates energetic demands while working out.
An Australian-led team, which included
scientists from the University of New South Wales, drew blood samples from 11
healthy men before and after they cycled on stationary bicycles for an hour at
an increasingly strenuous pace. The researchers found that exercise boosted levels
of more than 300 different proteins contained within vesicles. These proteins
then largely disappeared from circulation after several hours of rest.
Mouse experiments then showed that these exercise-induced
vesicles emanate from the muscles and head to the liver, the site of energy
production where they relay the signal that the muscles need more fuel.
The research was published in the journal Cell Metabolism.
References
- Cell Metabolism 27, 237–251.e4 (2018). doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2017.12.001