title: Short- and long-term effects of endurance training in patients with mitochondrial myopathy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  It is unknown whether prolonged training is a safe treatment to alleviate exercise intolerance in patients with mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations.
  
  
  METHODS
  The effect of 3 and 12 months training and 3-12 months deconditioning was studied in four patients carrying different mtDNA mutations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three-month moderate-intensity training increased oxidative capacity by 23%, which was sustained after 6-12 months of low-intensity training. Training and deconditioning did not induce adverse effects on clinical symptoms, muscle morphology and mtDNA mutation load in muscle.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Long-term training effectively improves exercise capacity in patients with mitochondrial myopathy, and appears to be safe.
authors.affiliation: Neuromuscular Research Unit, Department of Neurology, and the Copenhagen Muscle Research Centre, Copenhagen, Denmark. dysgaard@rh.dk
authors.forename: T D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Jeppesen
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dunø
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schwartz
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Krag
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rafiq
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wibrand
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vissing
mesh_terms: D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D017079:Exercise Tolerance / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D017240:Mitochondrial Myopathies / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D013995:Time