title: Low-intensity exercise in the acute phase of lipopolysaccharide-induced sepsis improves lipid metabolism and survival in mice by stimulating PGC-1α expression.
abstract: The effect of exercise during the acute phase following sepsis onset is poorly understood. We investigated how low-intensity exercise during acute sepsis alters energy-substrate metabolism and survival in mice with lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced sepsis.
  
  
  
  Mice were divided into control (C, saline), low-dose LPS (L, 1 mg/kg), medium-dose LPS (M, 5 mg/kg), and high-dose LPS (H, 10 mg/kg) groups. Each group was subdivided into sedentary (SED) and exercise (EX) groups; the EX group mice were exercised at low intensity on a treadmill after LPS administration. Survival proportions and vital functions were measured, and indirect calorimetry through respiratory gas analysis was performed until 72 hours after treatment. Organ weight and lipid levels in the plasma and liver were measured, and the messenger RNA and protein levels of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ coactivator-1α (PGC-1α) were evaluated using quantitative polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting.
  
  
  
  Survival proportions of H-EX mice were higher than those of H-SED mice. At 16 hours after LPS administration, fatty acid oxidation was decreased in M-SED and H-SED groups but increased in all EX groups and was higher in surviving mice in H-SED and H-EX groups than in nonsurviving mice, suggesting that fatty acid oxidation is related to survival. Epididymal fat weight was lower in the EX groups than in the SED groups, whereas plasma and liver lipid levels were elevated in all EX groups; this suggests that exercise induces the transport of lipids from endogenous fat into the blood and the liver for use as the energy source. Lastly, PGC-1α messenger RNA and protein levels were lower in L-, M-, and H-SED groups than in the C-SED group but were high in all EX groups.
  
  
  
  Our study provides the revolutionary finding that exercise during the acute phase following sepsis onset might exert a therapeutic effect.
authors.affiliation: From the Graduate School of Emergency and Critical Care Medicine (T.I., K.O., H.Y.), Nippon Medical School, Tokyo; Department of Primary Care and Emergency Medicine (T.I., N.S., K.O., S.O., K.K.), and Laboratory of Nutrition Chemistry (T.I., K.I.), Division of Food Science and Biotechnology, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University; and Faculty of Agriculture (T.F.), Ryukoku University, Kyoto, Japan.
authors.forename: Takayuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Irahara
authors.forename: Norio
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: Kosuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Otake
authors.forename: Shigeru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ohtsuru
authors.forename: Kaoru
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Koike
authors.forename: Tohru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fushiki
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yokota
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002153:Calorimetry, Indirect; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D050356:Lipid Metabolism; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009929:Organ Size; D010805:Physical Conditioning, Animal / Q000379:methods*; D011659:Pulmonary Gas Exchange; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D018805:Sepsis / Q000378:metabolism*; D015996:Survival Rate; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism*; D055986:Vital Signs
chemical_list: D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D014157:Transcription Factors; C111264:peroxisome-proliferator-activated receptor-gamma coactivator-1