MOTS-c increases in skeletal muscle following long-term physical activity and improves acute exercise performance after a single dose

What this study reported

Reported that voluntary running increased MOTS-c protein in rodent plantaris, medial gastrocnemius and tibialis anterior muscles compared with sedentary controls, that the increase persisted through a detraining period, and that it coincided with higher mtDNA. Reported that administered MOTS-c increased total running time and distance during an acute exercise test in untrained mice, and observed MOTS-c movement from cytoplasm to nucleus in two of six mouse soleus muscles after a downhill running challenge, with none seen in plantaris from the same animals.

Limitations

Small groups, with nuclear translocation seen in only two of six soleus muscles; acute performance test used a single administration in untrained animals; sex of animals and route of administration not reported in the abstract; protein quantified by expression assays without functional mechanism.