Exercise Stimulates Stem Cells

Vast evidence demonstrates the beneficial effects of physical activity on weight, heart health, and other key aspects of health and wellness. University of Utah (Utah, USA) researchers report that moderate exercise helps to regenerate muscle mass, in a lab animal model. Typically, regeneration, maintenance and repair of adult skeletal muscle damage due to aging and/or chronic stress states require activation of satellite cells (stem cells). Rajasekaran Namakkal Soorappan and colleagues found that aged mice lacking Nrf2 that underwent two weeks of endurance exercise stress on treadmills showed poor stem cell regeneration, which is likely to hinder the recovery of lost muscle mass. Nrf2 is protein that regulates the production of antioxidants in the body. In the group that couldn’t produce Nrf2, endurance exercise stress on the treadmills affected stem cell protein expression and limited skeletal muscle regenerative capacity. Commenting that: “Physical activity is the key to everything,” the lead investigator submits that: “we believe that moderate exercise could be one of the key ways to induce stem cells to regenerate especially during senescence.”