Biological complexity: exercise induced liver enzyme (Introduction)

by David Turell , Friday, July 14, 2023, 15:17 (288 days ago) @ David Turell

Found in mice many benefits:

https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/an-exercise-induced-liver-enzyme-boosts-meta...

"Plenty of scientific evidence indicates that exercise is good for our health. It benefits our hearts, bones, and muscles, boosts brain health, and may even fight off cancer.1,2,3 Now, a study shows that alongside the muscles and heart, the liver contributes to some of the positive effects of exercise.

"Researchers at Stanford University found that after consistent exercise, the liver produces an enzyme that boosts exercise performance, enhances weight loss, and improves glucose tolerance in mice. Published in Cell Metabolism, the study challenges the conventional muscle-centric view of exercise, revealing that tissues throughout the body respond to breaking a sweat.

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"A particularly striking finding, said Long, was that in response to exercise, liver cells secreted a family of molecules called carboxylesterase 2 (CES2), which were previously thought to be intracellular proteins. Other studies had revealed that boosting CES2 production inside the liver can increase metabolism in mice.6 However, the team showed that CES2 is also released into the body in response to exercise, and it may influence a number of other organ systems.

"To further understand the role of CES2, the researchers genetically engineered mice to overexpress CES2 in their livers and found that the protein improved overall metabolic health. Mice lost weight and had greater endurance and better glucose tolerance than non-genetically engineered mice. The CES2-overexpressing mice could also run faster and for a longer time than their non-genetically engineered counterparts.

"The researchers next genetically engineered a type of CES2 that mice couldn’t keep inside their livers. Mice that expressed this modified CES2 on top of their regular CES2 still experienced increased benefits from exercise compared to normal mice.

"Lisa Chow, an endocrinologist at the University of Minnesota who was not involved in the study, said that the findings were exciting. “When we think about exercise, we always think about the muscle and the heart or the blood vessels. But that's not the case here,” she said.

"However, Chow said that it’s unclear whether exercise, weight loss, or body composition drove the observed changes in protein secretion. In addition, the study was primarily conducted on male mice. “We need to look at female mice and across species, including humans,” Chow said, also noting that considering how the context of exercise, such as time of day, might affect proteins."

Comment: all early hominins and homos lived hard and exercised hard. It is not difficult to imagine beneficial effects would develop.