Study record
Endurance training enhances skeletal muscle mitochondrial respiration by promoting MOTS-c secretion
Feng Y, Rao Z, Tian X et al. · Free Radic Biol Med · 2025
Human obs.Endogenous MOTS-c measuredEvidence tier BAlso: Animal study (in vivo)
What this study reported
Measured serum MOTS-c levels that were closely associated with aerobic exercise capacity in marathon runners and sedentary subjects. In mice, reported higher serum MOTS-c and greater skeletal muscle mitochondrial respiration after long-term endurance training than in sedentary mice, alongside AMPK/PGC-1α activation.
Limitations
Human sample sizes are not reported and the human comparison is cross-sectional, so training and selection effects cannot be separated; the mouse mechanism was not tested in people.
Study record
| Study model | Human observational |
|---|---|
| Substance studied | Endogenous MOTS-c measuredNaturally occurring MOTS-c was measured; nothing was given. |
| Species | human, mouse |
| System studied | Marathon runners and sedentary subjects, and mice undergoing long-term endurance training |
| Population | marathon runners and sedentary adults |
| Design | Cross-sectional human comparison with an animal endurance-training experiment; MOTS-c measured |
| Sample size as reported | Not reported |
| Control group | sedentary subjects; sedentary mice |
| Route (data field only) | Not reported |
| Endpoints measured | serum MOTS-c; maximal oxygen uptake; skeletal muscle mitochondrial respiration; AMPK/PGC-1α signalling; body fat status |
| Pathways measured | AMPK signalling · SIRT1 / PGC-1α / biogenesis |
| Research areas | Exercise · Skeletal muscle · Mitochondrial biology |
| Evidence tier | B — Other human study |
| Publication types | Journal Article |
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
- Not reported
- Controls
- Limited
- Outcome validity
- Surrogate
- 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.