Abstract
The heart is a highly adaptable organ that responds to changes in functional
requirements due to exposure to internal and external stimuli. Physical exercise
has unique stimulatory effects on the myocardium in both healthy individuals and
those with health disorders, where the effects are primarily determined by the
intensity and recovery time of exercise. We investigated the time-dependent
effects of different exercise intensities on myocardial transcriptional
expression in rats. Moderate intensity exercise induced more differentially
expressed genes in the myocardium than high intensity exercise, while 16
differentially expressed genes were down-regulated by moderate intensity
exercise but up-regulated by high intensity exercise at 12 h post-
exercise. Both Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes
analysis indicated that moderate intensity exercise specifically regulated gene
expression related to heart adaptation, energy metabolism, and oxidative stress,
while high intensity exercise specifically regulated gene expression related to
immunity, inflammation, and apoptosis. Moreover, there was increased expression
of Tbx5, Casq1, Igsf1, and Ddah1 at all time points after moderate intensity
exercise, while there was increased expression of Card9 at all time points after
high intensity exercise. Our study provides a better understanding of the
intensity dependent effects of physical exercise of the molecular mechanisms of
cardiac adaptation to physical exercise.
Key words
moderate-intensity exercise - high-intensity exercise - transcriptomics - differentially
expressed genes - myocardium