title: Skeletal muscle mitochondria: a major player in exercise, health and disease.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Maintaining skeletal muscle mitochondrial content and function is important for sustained health throughout the lifespan. Exercise stimulates important key stress signals that control skeletal mitochondrial biogenesis and function. Perturbations in mitochondrial content and function can directly or indirectly impact skeletal muscle function and consequently whole-body health and wellbeing.
  
  
  METHODS
  This review will describe the exercise-stimulated stress signals and molecular mechanisms positively regulating mitochondrial biogenesis and function. It will then discuss the major myopathies, neuromuscular diseases and conditions such as diabetes and ageing that have dysregulated mitochondrial function. Finally, the impact of exercise and potential pharmacological approaches to improve mitochondrial function in diseased populations will be discussed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Exercise activates key stress signals that positively impact major transcriptional pathways that transcribe genes involved in skeletal muscle mitochondrial biogenesis, fusion and metabolism. The positive impact of exercise is not limited to younger healthy adults but also benefits skeletal muscle from diseased populations and the elderly. Impaired mitochondrial function can directly influence skeletal muscle atrophy and contribute to the risk or severity of disease conditions. Pharmacological manipulation of exercise-induced pathways that increase skeletal muscle mitochondrial biogenesis and function in critically ill patients, where exercise may not be possible, may assist in the treatment of chronic disease.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This review highlights our understanding of how exercise positively impacts skeletal muscle mitochondrial biogenesis and function. Exercise not only improves skeletal muscle mitochondrial health but also enables us to identify molecular mechanisms that may be attractive targets for therapeutic manipulation. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled Frontiers of mitochondrial research.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Physical Activity and Nutrition (C-PAN) Research, School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Hwy, 3125 Burwood, Australia. Electronic address: aaron.russell@deakin.edu.au.
authors.forename: Aaron P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Russell
authors.affiliation: Centre for Physical Activity and Nutrition (C-PAN) Research, School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Hwy, 3125 Burwood, Australia.
authors.forename: Victoria C
authors.initials: VC
authors.lastname: Foletta
authors.affiliation: Centre for Physical Activity and Nutrition (C-PAN) Research, School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Hwy, 3125 Burwood, Australia.
authors.forename: Rod J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Snow
authors.affiliation: Centre for Physical Activity and Nutrition (C-PAN) Research, School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Hwy, 3125 Burwood, Australia.
authors.forename: Glenn D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Wadley
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D006262:Health; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000502:physiology; D008931:Mitochondria, Muscle / Q000502:physiology*; D028361:Mitochondrial Diseases / Q000628:therapy; D063306:Mitophagy / Q000502:physiology; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009135:Muscular Diseases / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs
keywords: Exercise; Mitochondrial biogenesis; Neuromuscular disease; PGC-1; Skeletal muscle