Strenuous Exercise May Stop Cellular Death
TUESDAY May 11, 2010 -- Strenuous exercise appears to stop the body's cells from killing themselves as they're programmed to do, a new study suggests.
Researchers found that cells of people who had just run a marathon didn't engage in what is called apoptosis -- the natural death of cells.
"Apoptosis is a normal physiological function dependent on a variety of signals, many of which can be modulated by strenuous exercise. Here, we've shown for the first time that exercise modulates expression of the sirtuin family of proteins, which may be key regulators of training," study lead author Gabriella Marfe, of the University of Rome, said in a news release.
Marfe and colleagues took blood samples from 10 male athletes who'd taken part in a 42-kilometer run and found a shift in the balance between expression of pro- and anti-apoptotic genes after the race.
The researchers think that proteins in the sirtuin family may play a protective role in preventing cell death through exercise.
So should you go out for a run? Be careful if you haven't been training, Marfe said. "Untrained amateur athletes often do hard training without professional advice. Such intense and exhaustive exercise can be harmful to health," she said. To achieve beneficial effects, the authors recommend that exercise be part of a lifelong regimen with expert medical advice and supervision.
The study was published May 10 in the journal BMC Physiology.
St. George's University of London has more about apoptosis.
Posted: May 2010
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