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Eccentric treadmill exercise promotes adaptive hypertrophy of gastrocnemius in rats

DAI Zhi-Qiang¹, KE Yu^2,3, ZHAO Yan^2,3, YANG Ying^2,3, WU Hui-Wen^2,3, SHANG Hua-Yu⁴, XIA Zhi^2,3,*

¹School of Physical Education, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330031, China；²College of Physical Education and Health, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou 325035, Chin；³Key Lab of Biohealth Materials and Chemistry of Wenzhou, Wenzhou 325035, China；⁴School of Sports Medicine and Health, Chengdu Sport University, Chengdu 610041, China

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the effects of eccentric treadmill exercise on adaptive hypertrophy of skeletal muscle in rats. Thirty-two 3-month-old Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were selected and randomly assigned to one of the four groups based on their body weights: 2-week quiet control group (2C), 2-week downhill running exercise group (2E), 4-week quiet control group (4C), and 4-week downhill running exercise group (4E). The downhill running protocol for rats in the exercise groups involved slope of −16°, running speed of 16 m/min, training duration of 90 min, and 5 training sessions per week. Twenty-four hours after the final session of training, all the four groups of rats underwent an exhaustion treadmill exercise. After resting for 48 h, all the rats were euthanized and their gastrocnemius muscles were harvested for analysis. HE staining was used to measure the cross-sectional area (CSA) and diameter of muscle fibers. Transmission electron microscope was used to observe the ultrastructural changes in muscle fibers. Purithromycin surface labeling translation method was used to measure protein synthesis rate. Immunofluorescence double labeling was used to detect the colocalization levels of lysosomal-associated membrane protein 2 (Lamp2)-leucyl-tRNA synthetase (LARS) and Lamp2-mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR). Western blot was used to measure the protein expression levels of myosin heavy chain (MHC) IIb and LARS, as well as the phosphorylation levels of mTOR, p70 ribosomal protein S6 kinase (p70S6K), and eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E binding protein 1 (4E-BP1). The results showed that, compared with the 2C group rats, the 2E group rats showed significant increases in wet weight of gastrocnemius muscle, wet weight/body weight ratio, running distance, running time, pre- and post-exercise blood lactate levels, myofibrillar protein content, colocalization levels of Lamp2- LARS and Lamp2-mTOR, and LARS protein expression. Besides these above changes, compared with the 4C group, the 4E group further exhibited significantly increased fiber CSA, fiber diameter, protein synthesis rate, and phosphorylation levels of mTOR, p70S6K, and 4E-BP1. Compared with the quiet control groups, the exercise groups exhibited ultrastructural damage of rat gastrocnemius muscle, which was more pronounced in the 4E group. These findings suggest that eccentric treadmill exercise may promote mTOR translocation to lysosomal membrane, activating mTOR signaling via up-regulating LARS expression. This, in turn, increases protein synthesis rate through the mTOR-p70S6K-4E-BP1 signaling pathway, promoting protein deposition and inducing adaptive skeletal muscle hypertrophy. Although the ultrastructural changes of skeletal muscle are more pronounced, the relatively long training cycles during short-term exercise periods have a more significant effect on promoting gastrocnemius muscle protein synthesis and adaptive hypertrophy.

Key words: downhill running; skeletal muscle; protein synthesis; leucyl-tRNA synthetase; mammalian target of Rapamycin

Received: 　　Accepted:

Corresponding author: 夏志　　E-mail:

DOI: 10.13294/j.aps.2025.0051

Citing This Article：

DAI Zhi-Qiang, KE Yu, ZHAO Yan, YANG Ying, WU Hui-Wen, SHANG Hua-Yu, XIA Zhi. Eccentric treadmill exercise promotes adaptive hypertrophy of gastrocnemius in rats. Acta Physiol Sin 2025; 77 (3): 449-464 (in Chinese with English abstract).