Age-dependent impact of two exercise training regimens on genomic and metabolic remodeling in skeletal muscle and liver of male mice

How skeletal muscle adapts to different types of exercise intensity with age is not known. Adult and old C57BL/6 male mice were assigned to one of three groups: sedentary, daily high-intensity intermittent training (HIIT), or moderate intensity continuous training (MICT) for 4 weeks, compatible with the older group’s exercise capacity. Improvements in body composition, fasting blood glucose, and muscle strength were mostly observed in the MICT old group, while effects of HIIT training in adult and old animals was less clear. Skeletal muscle exhibited structural and functional adaptations to exercise training, as revealed by electron microscopy, OXPHOS assays, respirometry, and muscle protein biomarkers. Transcriptomics analysis of gastrocnemius muscle combined with liver and serum metabolomics unveiled an age-dependent metabolic remodeling in response to exercise training. These results support a tailored exercise prescription approach aimed at improving health and ameliorating age-associated loss of muscle strength and function in the elderly. A comparison of the adaptive responses of male C57BL/6J mice at either 5 months (adult group) or 24 months (old group), using age-matched sedentary controls (CON, N = 4) and two types of daily exercise training for 4 weeks to determine the benefits that high-intensity intermittent training (HIIT/AC, N = 4) and moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT/XR, N = 4) could provide to combat muscle loss.