The impact of acute and chronic exercise on Nrf2 expression in relation to markers of mitochondrial biogenesis in human skeletal muscle

Islam, Hashim; Bonafiglia, Jacob T.; Turnbull, Patrick C.; Simpson, Craig A.; Perry, Christopher G. R.; Gurd, Brendon J.

doi:10.1007/s00421-019-04259-7

Original Article
Published: 09 November 2019

The impact of acute and chronic exercise on Nrf2 expression in relation to markers of mitochondrial biogenesis in human skeletal muscle

Hashim Islam ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7145-0522¹,
Jacob T. Bonafiglia¹,
Patrick C. Turnbull²,
Craig A. Simpson¹,
Christopher G. R. Perry² &
Brendon J. Gurd¹

European Journal of Applied Physiology volume 120, pages 149–160 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

Purpose

To examine the relationship between changes in nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) expression and markers of mitochondrial biogenesis in acutely and chronically exercised human skeletal muscle.

Methods

The impact of acute submaximal endurance (END) and supramaximal interval (Tabata) cycling on the upregulation of Nrf2 (and its downstream targets), nuclear respiratory factor-1 (NRF-1) and mitochondrial transcription factor A (TFAM) mRNA expression was examined in healthy young males (n = 10). The relationship between changes in citrate synthase (CS) maximal activity and the protein content of Nrf2, heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1), NRF-1, and TFAM was also investigated following 4 weeks of Tabata in a separate group of males (n = 21).

Results

Nrf2, NRF-1, and HO-1 mRNA expression increased after acute exercise (p < 0.05), whereas the increase in superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2) mRNA expression approached significance (p = 0.08). Four weeks of Tabata increased CS activity and Nrf2, NRF-1, and TFAM protein content (p < 0.05), but decreased HO-1 protein content (p < 0.05). Training-induced changes in Nrf2 protein were strongly correlated with NRF-1 (r = 0.63, p < 0.01). When comparing protein content changes between individuals with the largest (HI: + 23%) and smallest (LO: − 1%) observed changes in CS activity (n = 8 each), increases in Nrf2 and TFAM protein content were apparent in the HI group only (p < 0.02) with medium-to-large effect sizes for between-group differences in changes in Nrf2 (η_p²₌0.15) and TFAM (η_p² = 0.12) protein content.

Conclusion

Altogether, our findings support a potential role for Nrf2 in exercise-induced mitochondrial biogenesis in human skeletal muscle.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Ali C. Dehghani for technical assistance with the cell culture experiments.

Funding

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) with Grant numbers 402635 and PGS-D.

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Authors and Affiliations

School of Kinesiology and Health Studies, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada
Hashim Islam, Jacob T. Bonafiglia, Craig A. Simpson & Brendon J. Gurd
School of Kinesiology and Health Science, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada
Patrick C. Turnbull & Christopher G. R. Perry

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Hashim Islam
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Jacob T. Bonafiglia
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Patrick C. Turnbull
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Craig A. Simpson
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Christopher G. R. Perry
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Brendon J. Gurd
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Contributions

HI and BJG conceptualized and designed the study. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by HI, JTB, PCT, and CAS. The first draft of the manuscript was written by HI. and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Brendon J. Gurd.

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Islam, H., Bonafiglia, J.T., Turnbull, P.C. et al. The impact of acute and chronic exercise on Nrf2 expression in relation to markers of mitochondrial biogenesis in human skeletal muscle. Eur J Appl Physiol 120, 149–160 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-019-04259-7

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Received: 11 July 2019
Accepted: 01 November 2019
Published: 09 November 2019
Issue Date: January 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-019-04259-7

Keywords

NFE2L2
NRF-1
TFAM
Mitochondrial content
Sprint interval training
Moderate-intensity continuous training