“This centre is unique in that we’re zeroing in on skeletal muscle and its relationship to health, with a strong focus on what exercise can do,” says Professor David Hood,Ěýthe centre’s founding director. “We’re looking for new discoveries on how exercise can benefit Canadians through adaptations in the metabolism and structure of muscle.”

The MHRC conducts collaborative research with scientists from the School of Kinesiology & Health Science and the Department of Biology.

“Like all research centres at 91ŃÇÉ«, the MHRC has an interdisciplinary mandate – that is, enabling researchers from different departments and disciplines to work together towards a common goal,” says Hood.

Scientists from the MHRC are investigating topics such as muscle metabolism, muscle development and muscle adaptations to exercise, metabolic disease and cancer. Professor Tara Haas and colleagues in the MHRC recently identified a cell-signalling process that stimulates blood vessel growth and may help individuals with diabetes to exercise and thereby improve their health (see YFile, Nov. 17, 2009). Hood’s research includes an ongoing series of investigations into the benefits of exercise (see YFile,  May 11, 2007, March 2, 2009 and January 18, 2010).

“As a leading research institution, we’re concerned with bringing the work of our scientists to bear on the real world and improving the health and well-being of Canadians,” says Harvey Skinner, dean of 91ŃÇɫ’s Faculty of Health. The centre will serve as an innovative hub for the life sciences within 91ŃÇɫ’s Faculty of Health, generating new knowledge and disseminating research findings to the public and the health system.

The opening ceremony featured guest speakers, including Olympic figure skater Barbara Underhill; Philip Gardiner, director of the Health, Leisure & Human Performance Research Institute at the University of Manitoba; and Jane Aubin, scientific director of the .

To learn more about muscle health research at 91ŃÇÉ«, visit the MHRC Web site or contact Hood at dhood@yorku.ca.

Republished courtesy of YFile – 91ŃÇɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

The post 91ŃÇÉ« opens Canada’s first Muscle Health Research Centre appeared first on Research & Innovation.

It may not be the fountain of youth, but researchers at 91ŃÇÉ« have discovered that regular exercise can effectively turn back the clock for aging skeletal muscle.

The study,Ěý“Molecular basis for an attenuated mitochondrial adaptive plasticity in aged skeletal muscle,” was recently published in the journal . The results indicate that the elderly are able to rebuild muscle mass,Ěýand while they will not achieve the abs of a 20-year-old, they can reverse significant damage and loss of muscle function caused by inactivity and old age.

The research team led by Professor David Hood, Canada Research Chair in Cell Physiology and a professor in the School of Kinesiology & Health Sciences in 91ŃÇɫ’s Faculty of Health, carried out the study as part of an ongoing series of investigations into the benefits of exercise (see YFile,ĚýMay 11, 2007 & March 2, 2009). This most recent study demonstrates that even in the elderly (individuals of 70 or 80 human years of age), regular exercise has the effect of rejuvenating muscle health, and these benefits are demonstrated by reduced fatigue and enhanced cellular function. The study adds weight to a growing body of findings by Hood and his research team that exercise plays a key role in achieving long-term health, even into advanced age.

Right: David Hood

“We found that muscle does adapt, but it takes a longer time for that adaptation to take place,” says Hood. “It is not a question anymore that regular exercise offers little benefit for elderly individuals because their muscles won’t adapt. That is not the case. The muscles of older individuals do adapt, they just don’t adapt as robustly or as quickly as younger individuals.”

Hood says the study showed that elderly muscle will continue to improve in its responsiveness as long as the exercise continues. "It may take more time but the benefits are definitely there," he says.

"To prove this, we used a well-established animal model of aging, the Fisher Brown Norway rat at young and very old ages. To avoid any differences in exercise behaviour between ages, we used a chronic stimulation model of muscle contraction in which the muscles of one leg were made to contract for three hours a day for seven consecutive days. This represents a standardized high exercise workload which can be imposed on one leg of both the young and old animals while the opposite leg remains at rest," explains Hood.

At the end of the seven-day period, the adaptability of the muscle with respect to its ability to withstand fatigue was assessed. Specifically, Hood's research team looked at key components of muscle cell health, including the production of mitochondria and proteins which are known regulators of mitochondrial synthesis. "While the older muscle fatigued more rapidly than the young muscle, this fatigue was reduced by the exercise and the muscle was 'rescued', allowing it to perform similarly to that of the young muscle," says Hood. In the younger muscle, regular exercise increased the mitochondrial content to a greater degree than in the old muscle, but old muscle did experience an increase and there was reduced apoptosis (cell death) in the old muscle.

Hood says the findings mean that exercise carries huge benefits for all ages, and muscle, no matter what its age, can adapt regardless of how old a person is. “People should be encouraged to exercise continually throughout their life,” says Hood. “Don't expect that as you get older, the adaptations will happen as quickly, but an ongoing lifestyle choice to exercise is very important.”

The benefits, says Hood, are many for the elderly include and include stronger muscles, greater resistance to injury and bone breakage, and enhanced metabolism. “Regular exercise means being less tired doing normal daily activities, improved metabolism which helps you break down fat making you more sensitive to insulin, which is important in preventing pre-diabetic conditions. Better metabolism improves whole body function and wellness.”

Muscle Health Research Centre

Hood's lab is part of 91ŃÇÉ«'s new Muscle Health Research Centre (MHRC),Ěýwhich is the first of its kind in Canada. The centre will celebrate its official opening on Wednesday, Jan. 20, at 10:30am.

“This centre is unique in that we’re zeroing in on skeletal muscle and its relationship to health, with a strong focus on what exercise can do,” says Hood,Ěýwho will serve as the centre's director. “We’re looking for new discoveries on how exercise can benefit Canadians through adaptations in the metabolism and structure of muscle.”

The MHRC conducts collaborative research with scientists from the School of Kinesiology & Health Science and the Department of Biology.

“Like all research centres at 91ŃÇÉ«, the MHRC has an interdisciplinary mandate – that is, enabling researchers from different departments and disciplines to work together towards a common goal,” says Hood.

Scientists from the MHRC are investigating topics such as muscle metabolism, muscle development and muscle adaptations to exercise, metabolic disease and cancer. Professor Tara Haas and colleagues in the MHRC recently identified a cell-signalling process that stimulates blood vessel growth and may help individuals with diabetes to exercise and thereby improve their health (see YFile, Nov. 17, 2009).

“As a leading research institution, we’re concerned with bringing the work of our scientists to bear on the real world and improving the health and well-being of Canadians,” says Harvey Skinner, dean of 91ŃÇÉ«'s Faculty of Health. The centre will serve as an innovative hub for the life sciences within 91ŃÇɫ’s Faculty of Health, generating new knowledge and disseminating research findings to the public and the health system.

The opening ceremony will feature guest speakers, including Olympic figure skater Barbara Underhill; Philip Gardiner, director of the Health, Leisure & Human Performance Research Institute at the University of Manitoba; and Jane Aubin, scientific director of the .

The opening will take place Jan. 20, from 10:30am to 1pm, in the Execultive Learning Centre located in X106 Seymour Schulich Building on 91ŃÇÉ«'s Keele campus. For more information, contact Kathy Thomas at thomask@yorku.ca. To learn more about muscle health research at 91ŃÇÉ«, visit the MHRC Web site or contact Hood at dhood@yorku.ca.

By Jenny Pitt-Clark, YFile editor

Republished courtesy of YFile – 91ŃÇɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

The post Regular exercise can turn back the clock for aging muscle appeared first on Research & Innovation.

91ŃÇÉ« researchers have identified a cell-signalling process that stimulates blood vessel growth and may help break the cycle of diabetes by making it easier for patients to exercise.

Professor Tara Haas (right) and colleagues in 91ŃÇɫ’s Muscle Health Research Centre studied stimuli that can cause blood vessels in muscle to grow. Their research aims to improve outcomes for patients with peripheral artery disease, a condition that compromises circulation, often seen in patients with high blood pressure or Type 2 diabetes. In the worst-case scenario, lack of blood flow can eventually result in amputation of a patient’s foot or lower leg.

"Type 2 diabetes is one of the major disease states in which muscles don’t get enough blood. This leads to muscle cramps and pain. It becomes a vicious cycle because patients are in so much pain, they can’t do the exercises that would help improve their condition," says Haas, professor in 91ŃÇɫ’s School of Kinesiology & Health Science, Faculty of Health. "Ultimately, this research furthers our understanding of how we can jump-start the growth of new vessels, and may lead to drug treatment regimens that will help patients get back on their feet," she says.

Blood flow itself can be used as a regulator for inducing the growth of new vessels. This process, known as "shear stress-induced angiogenesis", is not fully understood by scientists.

Eric Gee, a PhD candidate in kinesiology & health science and lead investigator on the study, found that increased blood flow jump-starts endothelial growth receptors within the vascular system, in turn causing the activation of a key protein enzyme, p38 MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase).

"Experiments suggest that p38 activation is needed to induce the growth of new blood vessels via shear stress-induced angiogenesis," says Gee.

As part of the study, Gee mimicked the effects of blood flow by pumping fluid over the surfaces of endothelial cells in order to document changes in p38 activation. He also used the drug Prazosin in an experiment involving rats; the drug dilates arteries and induces chronically elevated capillary shear stress in skeletal muscle. The rats were then given an inhibitor to block the protein identified in cultured cells. Gee found that the inhibitor worked, suggesting that the p38 protein is important in conveying the signals which stimulate the growth of vessels.

"By learning which healthy pathways are normally activated, we are furthering our knowledge of how to replicate this response in humans," Gee says. "It also gives us an idea of markers we can look for in disease states where these signals may not be getting activated, for example, high blood pressure or Type 2 diabetes."

The article, "p38 MAPK activity is stimulated by vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 activation and is essential for shear stress-induced angiogenesis", was published online in the Journal of Cellular Physiology in September 2009. It will appear in print in January 2010.

From YFile - 91ŃÇÉ«'s daily e-bulletin

The post Discovery by 91ŃÇÉ« researchers could help break diabetes cycle appeared first on Research & Innovation.