Scientists have found differences in the liver's response to exercise

Researchers from the University of Missouri have found that endurance training rearranges the metabolism in the liver of male and female rats in different ways. At the same time, physical activity improved the liver condition in animals of both sexes: they reduced the amount of fat, improved the use of cholesterol, and decreased fibrosis markers. The difference in cellular reactions is described in the Izvestia article.

Same workouts — different changes in liver cells

The study showed that endurance training changes the work of liver cells related to energy production. Scientists studied the Krebs cycle, a process that occurs in the mitochondria of individual cells and is involved in energy production.

At the same time, the changes occurred differently in females and males. In females, more proteins were created as part of the energy cycle, while in males, more existing proteins were modified as a result of a chemical reaction that triggered this cycle. The work was published in the journal Cell Reports.

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The females created more proteins — the males changed the existing ones.

According to the lead author of the study, Scott Rector, liver cells in different genders adapt to long-term endurance training through various molecular mechanisms that rearrange cellular structures responsible for energy production.

Thus, the difference was not that one adaptation option was better than the other. In females, the changes were more associated with the creation of new proteins, while in males— they were associated with changes in existing ones.

The liver improved the condition in rodents of both sexes

Despite differences at the cellular level, exercise improved liver health in male and female rats. After training, the animals had less fat in the liver, improved the use and excretion of cholesterol.

In addition, the researchers found fewer markers of fibrosis, an accumulation of scar tissue that is commonly seen in liver damage or disease. At the same time, males, according to the results of the work, removed more cholesterol from the body than females.

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It is still unknown why the liver reacts differently.

Researchers have not yet established why the liver cells of males and females use different ways to adapt to training. The next stage of the work will be to study how the detected changes in the energy cycle of cells affect metabolism, the processes by which the body creates and uses energy.

According to him, the results show that regular endurance training improves the metabolic mechanism, but further research should show what other changes can be detected.

The study may help study fatty liver disease.

The authors believe that the data obtained can help in the further study of metabolically associated steatotic liver disease. This is the most common chronic liver disease, the publication notes.

The researchers suggest that further study of differences in cellular responses may contribute to a more accurate understanding of metabolic disorders. At the same time, the current work was carried out on rats, so the obtained patterns cannot be directly transferred to humans.