A metabolomic exploration of the exercise response: acute aerobic and anaerobic exercise responses in endurance and resistance trained males and females
Creators: name: Pellegrino, Joseph Kenneth
Publisher: name: No Publisher Supplied
Year: 2019

description: Exercise acts as a potent modifier of metabolic status both acutely and through adaptations from chronic participation in physical activity. Changes in metabolism elicited by exercise manifest across systems throughout the body and impact health and fitness status of the individual. Metabolomics has proven a sensitive measure in investigating these perturbations in the context of acute and chronic changes. Here, our aim was to apply a metabolomics approach in order to characterize differences in the responses to both aerobic and anaerobic exercise, as well as to investigate the roles of training background and sex on these responses. Participants (N=40) were equally distributed into groups based on sex (M/F) and training background [endurance (END) or resistance- trained (RES)]. Participants performed 45-minute cycling (AE) or weight-training (AN) bouts on separate days. Serum was collected before (T0), immediately after (T1), and 60-min post-exercise (T2) and an analyzed via UHPLC/MS by Metabolon for identification of 754 known individual metabolites. A variety of statistical techniques, including clustering, pathway mapping and RM-ANOVAs were performed for data analysis. Both exercise conditions served to significantly alter the metabolome of all participants, with bioenergetic pathways predominating the response (TCA Cycle, purine salvage, substrate metabolism). Between conditions individual metabolic pathways differed by magnitude and/or timing of response, but not direction. At T1, changes within fatty acid metabolism were larger and more extensive in response to AE, while AN elicited greater perturbations in carbohydrate and anaerobic metabolites. However, by T2, both exercises presented similar patterns of substrate use, relying heavily on fatty acid oxidation. Inflammatory signaling, oxidative stress and energy balance all indicated greater stress at T2 following AN than AE. Principle components analysis was unable to discern between either END and RES or M and F groups at T0. Further, resting metabolomes were only significantly different at 3% and 1% of metabolites by training background or sex respectively (p &lt; 0.05, q &lt; 0.1). In response to exercise, training background differences were characterized by larger responses from the group more familiar with each exercise bout (END-AD, RES-AN) and a generally faster recovery for END as compared to RES following both exercises, and particularly AE. Thus, training background comparisons recapitulated differences observed between acute sessions. Sex differences were highlighted in substrate selection. Fatty acid use during AE (change T0-T1) was greater in F than M while amino acid catabolism, glycolytic flux and purine salvage were greater during AN in M than F. These results present the first direct comparisons of the metabolomic response to exercise across sex and/or training background for AE and AN. We report both similarities and differences in the exercise response between mode (AE/AN), training status (END/RES) and sex. Despite observed phenotypic differences between groups, groups exhibited a uniform resting metabotype and comparable responses across training background and sex. These observations illustrate the potency of regular participation in physical activity of any kind in normalizing the metabolome at rest and in response to exercise. They further suggest the possibility of a healthy resting metabotype and, a characteristic metabolomic signature in response to AE and AN in active individuals.