Exercise and health: from evaluation of health-promoting effects of exercise to exploration of exercise mimetics

Regular endurance exercise promotes favorable structure and metabolism adaptations in contracting organ (skeletal muscle) and "far-sited" organ (heart, brain, liver, adipose tissue). Exercise induced skeletal muscle remodeling by activating a series of signaling and transcriptional circuitry (e. g., PPARδ, AMPK, SIRT1 and PGC-1α). In addition, contracting skeletal muscle is an endocrine organ producing and releasing myokines (e. g. IL-6, BDNF and Irisin), which work in a hormone-like fashion, exerting specific endocrine effects on " far-sited" organ. It has been suggested that myokines may contribute to exercise-induced protection against several chronic disease. In this review, we discuss recent discoveries that raise the possibility of synthetically mimicking exercise with pathway-specific drugs to improve health.