28 Jan Autophagy and Exercise
Autophagy is essential to support skeletal muscle plasticity in response to endurance exercise. To activate the activation of autophagy during exercise, the activation of AMPK is also needed
AMPK regulates both protein synthesis and breakdown pathways. AMPK has a vital role in skeletal muscle homeostasis. It’s activated by conditions of energy stress, including nutrient deprivation and vigorous exercise
Exercise performed in a fasted state shows a higher increase in LC3B-II level compared with a fed state, which suggests exercise done while fasting to have a better autophagic response
This makes sense because you’ll be tapping straight into your body fat for energy instead of burning through the food you ate.
When activated, AMPK increases the flux of glycolysis and fatty acid oxidation, while at the same time inhibiting glucogenogenesis and fatty acid and cholesterol synthesis.
In addition, AMPK has been recently showed to be a critical regulator of skeletal muscle protein turnover. Protein turnover is the balance between protein build up and protein breakdown over the course of the day. If your protein synthesis exceeds the amount protein’s being broken down, then you’re in a more anabolic state.
Your body is always in a flux between anabolism and catabolism – growing and degrading. Both of these ends of the spectrum are vital for a healthy life – you want to promote the growth and repair of your vital organs and muscles but you also want to eliminate and break down the old worn out cells and metabolic debris.
Source: Metabolic Autophagy by Siim Land
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