Molecular Choreography of Acute Exercise, 2020, Contrepois et al

[Andy]

Acute physical activity leads to several changes in metabolic, cardiovascular, and immune pathways. Although studies have examined selected changes in these pathways, the system-wide molecular response to an acute bout of exercise has not been fully characterized. We performed longitudinal multi-omic profiling of plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells including metabolome, lipidome, immunome, proteome, and transcriptome from 36 well-characterized volunteers, before and after a controlled bout of symptom-limited exercise. Time-series analysis revealed thousands of molecular changes and an orchestrated choreography of biological processes involving energy metabolism, oxidative stress, inflammation, tissue repair, and growth factor response, as well as regulatory pathways. Most of these processes were dampened and some were reversed in insulin-resistant participants. Finally, we discovered biological pathways involved in cardiopulmonary exercise response and developed prediction models revealing potential resting blood-based biomarkers of peak oxygen consumption.

Paywall, https://www.cell.com/cell/pdf/S0092-8674(20)30508-0.pdf
Sci hub, not available via.

As I've said on another thread for an exercise paper, I'm posting these not because I think we need to exercise to get better but because I think we need to learn what happens normally when people exert themselves and then find out what is abnormal about our reaction to exertion.

Interesting that they note "Most of these processes were dampened and some were reversed in insulin-resistant participants.", proving that disease can impact on these processes.

 

[Snow Leopard]

The acute responses to exercise were interesting, but I'm sure we would have appreciated longer testing, namely 24 and 48 hours!

 

[SNT Gatchaman]

Now open access.

Referenced as [73] in Temporal dynamics of the plasma proteomic landscape reveals maladaptation in ME/CFS following exertion (2025) —

Although exercise is widely promoted for maintaining physical health and managing numerous chronic conditions [4-6, 69-72], it can be detrimental to individuals with ME/CFS by triggering PEM. Acute bouts of exercise induces complex molecular responses that reflect the body’s capacity to adapt to physiological stress [73] and longitudinal sampling in animal and human studies has been crucial in unraveling these adaptive changes [69, 73-75].