Age-dependent effects of treadmill exercise during a period of inactivity

P. Arora, A. D. Husom, D. A. Ferrington, L. V. Thompson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of a treadmill exercise protocol to prevent muscle weakness, atrophy and alterations in calcium regulation in adult, old and very old rats. Adult (7-12 months), old (29-30 months) and very old (34-36 months) F344BNF1 rats were randomly assigned to weight bearing (WB), weight bearing exercise (WBX), non-weight bearing (NWB) and non-weight bearing exercise (NWBX) groups. The WB group was considered the sedentary-control animals. NWB rats were hindlimb unweighted for 14 days. WBX and NWBX groups were exercised on a treadmill for approximately 15 min four times daily. The contractile properties [diameter, peak active force (P0), specific tension (P0/CSA)] of single myosin heavy chain type II fibers and Ca regulation [Ca2+ dependent ATPase activity] were determined. Fiber diameter reduced by 24% in the very old rats with NWB. P0 and P0/CSA declined in the young adult and very old rats with NWB. NWBX attenuated these changes in the young and very old rats. Ca2+ dependent ATPase activity increased with treadmill exercise during non-weight bearing in the young animals. In conclusion, the treadmill exercise is beneficial in attenuating the non-weight bearing-induced changes in the individual MHC type II muscle fibers of the gastrocnemius muscle.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)668-673
Number of pages6
JournalExperimental Gerontology
Volume43
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2008

Keywords

  • Aging
  • Calcium regulation
  • F344BNF1 rats
  • Gastrocnemius muscle
  • Hindlimb unweighting
  • MHC type II fibers
  • Muscle atrophy
  • Muscle weakness
  • Single fiber contractile properties
  • Treadmill exercise

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