How do exercise training variables stimulate processes related to mitochondrial biogenesis in slow and fast trout muscle fibres?

NEW FINDINGS

What is the central question of this study? Exercise is known to promote mitochondrial biogenesis in skeletal muscle, but what are the most relevant training protocols to stimulate it? What is the main finding and its importance? As in mammals, training in rainbow trout affects slow and fast muscle fibres differently. Exercise intensity, relative to volume, duration and frequency, is the most relevant training variable to stimulate the processes related to mitochondrial biogenesis in both red and white muscles. This study offers new insights into muscle fibre type-specific transcription and expression of genes involved in mitochondrial adaptations following training.

ABSTRACT

Exercise is known to be a powerful way to improve health through the stimulation of mitochondrial biogenesis in skeletal muscle, which undergoes cellular and molecular adaptations. One of the current challenges in human is to define the optimal training stimulus to improve muscle performance. Fish are relevant models for exercise training physiology studies mainly because of their distinct slow and fast muscle fibres. Using rainbow trout, we investigated the effects of six different training protocols defined by manipulating specific training variables (such as exercise intensity, volume, duration and frequency), on mRNAs and some proteins related to four subsystems (AMP-activated protein kinase-peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator-1α signalling pathway, mitochondrial function, antioxidant defences and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) metabolism) in both red and white muscles (RM and WM, respectively). In both muscles, high-intensity exercise stimulated more mRNA types and enzymatic activities related to mitochondrial biogenesis than moderate-intensity exercise. For volume, duration and frequency variables, we demonstrated fibre type-specific responses. Indeed, for high-intensity interval training, RM transcript levels are increased by a low training volume, but WM transcript responses are stimulated by a high training volume. Moreover, transcripts and enzymatic activities related to mitochondria and LDH show that WM tends to develop aerobic metabolism with a high training volume. For transcript stimulation, WM requires a greater duration and frequency of exercise than RM, whereas protein adaptations are efficient with a long training duration and a high frequency in both muscles.