Study record
Acute endurance exercise stimulates circulating levels of mitochondrial-derived peptides in humans
von Walden F, Fernandez-Gonzalo R, Norrbom J et al. · J Appl Physiol (1985) · 2021
What this study reported
Measured circulating mitochondrial-derived peptides before and after acute exercise in healthy adults and found that plasma humanin rose significantly after endurance but not resistance exercise, while MOTS-c showed only a trend towards an increase after endurance exercise. Resting MOTS-c correlated with humanin levels and age but not with fitness measures.
Limitations
Small groups of ten participants each, single acute exercise bouts with short follow-up sampling, and MOTS-c changes that did not reach significance; participant sex distribution is not stated in the abstract.
Study record
| Study model | Human observational |
|---|---|
| Substance studied | Endogenous MOTS-c measuredNaturally occurring MOTS-c was measured; nothing was given. |
| Species | human |
| System studied | Healthy participants randomised to acute endurance cycling, acute resistance exercise or a non-exercising control condition |
| Population | healthy adults familiarised to the exercise protocols |
| Design | Randomised acute exercise intervention; MOTS-c measured |
| Sample size as reported | 30 participants (10 endurance, 10 resistance, 10 control) |
| Control group | non-exercising control group |
| Route (data field only) | Not reported |
| Endpoints measured | plasma MOTS-c; plasma humanin; skeletal muscle MOTS-c; exercise-related gene expression; mtDNA copy number |
| Pathways measured | SIRT1 / PGC-1α / biogenesis |
| Research areas | Exercise · Mitochondrial biology · Skeletal muscle |
| Evidence tier | B — Other human study |
| Publication types | Journal Article, Randomized Controlled Trial, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't |
Appraisal
Each dimension is recorded separately and never combined into a single score. A study can be well controlled and still tell you little about people.
- Relevance to MOTS-c
- Direct
- Model applicability
- Human
- Sample size
- Small
- Controls
- Appropriate
- Outcome validity
- Validated biomarker
- Support for its own conclusion
- Moderate
Provenance
- Bibliographic fields retrieved from PubMed E-utilities efetch (title, journal, date, authors, DOI) on 2026-11-11.
- Annotated from the published abstract.
- Editorial review: approved (2026-11-11).
- Classification follows the site methodology; the record describes the study, not what MOTS-c does in people.