Effect of aerobic exercise on muscle structure and expression of proteins promoting hypertrophy and metabolism in aged rats

Aging and physical inactivity lead to histochemical changes in muscles. The expression of many muscle proteins, including brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), silent information regulator of transcription 1 (SIRT1), and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma gamma coactivator-1 alpha (PGC-1a), declines with age. However, the effect of aerobic exercise on muscle structure and the expression profile of these proteins in elderly rats is unknown. Here, we investigated whether short-term aerobic exercise improves muscle structure and increases BDNF, SIRT1, and PGC-1a levels in aged rats. Ten male Wistar rats (95-week-old) were assigned to sedentary (SED) or exercise (Ex) groups. The Ex group performed running on a treadmill for 1 h, 6 times per week, for 2 weeks. The extensor digitorum longus muscles were removed to examine the muscle fibre type composition, cross-sectional area, and capillary-to-fibre (C/F) ratio. BDNF, SIRT1, and PGC-1a levels were evaluated by western blotting. Relative to the SED group, the Ex group showed increased proportion of Type I fibres (P<0.05), cross- sectional area of all muscle fibre types (P<0.05), succinate dehydrogenase activity (P<0.001), C/F ratio (P<0.05), and expression of BDNF, SIRT1, and PGC-1a (P<0.05).Thus, 2 weeks of aerobic exercise is sufficient to improve muscle histology and hypertrophic marker protein expression, indicating that it could prevent skeletal muscle atrophy in elderly rats.