Regular postexercise cooling enhances mitochondrial biogenesis through AMPK and p38 MAPK in human skeletal muscle

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of regular postexercise cold water immersion (CWI) on muscle aerobic adaptations to endurance training. Eight males performed 3 sessions/wk of endurance training for 4 wk. Following each session, subjects immersed one leg in a cold water bath (10°C; COLD) for 15 min, while the contralateral leg served as a control (CON). Muscle biopsies were obtained from vastus lateralis of both CON and COLD legs prior to training and 48 h following the last training session. Samples were analyzed for signaling kinases: p38 MAPK and AMPK, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator-1α (PGC-1α), enzyme activities indicative of mitochondrial biogenesis, and protein subunits representative of respiratory chain complexes I–V. Following training, subjects' peak oxygen uptake and running velocity were improved by 5.9% and 6.2%, respectively (P < 0.05). Repeated CWI resulted in higher total AMPK, phosphorylated AMPK, phosphorylated acetyl-CoA carboxylase, β-3-hydroxyacyl-CoA-dehydrogenase and the protein subunits representative of complex I and III (P < 0.05). Moreover, large effect sizes (Cohen's d > 0.8) were noted with changes in protein content of p38 (d = 1.02, P = 0.064), PGC-1α (d = 0.99, P = 0.079), and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (d = 0.93, P = 0.10) in COLD compared with CON. No differences between conditions were observed in the representative protein subunits of respiratory complexes II, IV, and V and in the activities of several mitochondrial enzymes (P > 0.05). These findings indicate that regular CWI enhances p38, AMPK, and possibly mitochondrial biogenesis.

Keywords

[RSTDPub], Cold water immersion, Exercise recovery, Muscle oxidative adaptations, Nonshivering thermogenesis, PGC-1α, 3 hydroxyacyl coenzyme A dehydrogenase, acetyl coenzyme A carboxylase, beta 3 hydroxyacyl coenzyme A dehydrogenase, complex V, cytochrome c oxidase, mitochondrial enzyme, mitogen activated protein kinase, mitogen activated protein kinase p38, muscle protein, oxidoreductase, peroxisome proliferator activated receptor alpha, peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma coactivator 1alpha, reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide dehydrogenase (ubiquinone), succinate dehydrogenase (ubiquinone), ubiquinol cytochrome c reductase, unclassified drug, acetyl coenzyme A carboxylase, hydroxymethylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase kinase, mitogen activated protein kinase p38, peroxisome proliferator activated receptor alpha, peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma, transcription factor, adult, Article, biogenesis, controlled study, effect size, endurance training, enzyme activity, enzyme phosphorylation, human, human experiment, human tissue, male, mitochondrion, muscle biopsy, normal human, oxygen consumption, priority journal, protein content, protein subunit, respiratory chain, running, skeletal muscle, treadmill test, vastus lateralis muscle, water immersion, cold, exercise, metabolism, mitochondrial dynamics, mitochondrion, physiology, skeletal muscle, young adult, Acetyl-CoA Carboxylase, Adult, AMP-Activated Protein Kinases, Cold Temperature, Exercise, Humans, Male, Mitochondria, Mitochondrial Turnover, Muscle, Skeletal, p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases, PPAR alpha, PPAR gamma, Transcription Factors, Young Adult

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of Publication

2015

Publisher

American Physiological Society

School

Centre for Exercise and Sport Science Research / School of Exercise and Health Sciences

RAS ID

20814

Comments

Ihsan, M., Markworth, J.F., Watson, G., et al. (2015) Regular postexercise cooling enhances mitochondrial biogenesis through AMPK and p38 MAPK in human skeletal muscle. In American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory Integrative and Comparative Physiology, 309(3), R286-R294.Available here.

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Link to publisher version (DOI)

10.1152/ajpregu.00031.2015