Single treadmill session may boost heart tissue repair

Just a single session of endurance training, such as running on a treadmill, may boost expression of genes involved in repairing damaged DNA and provide a protective effect on the heart, a new study has claimed.
Expression of genes used to repair damaged DNA increased in response to endurance exercise, even after just a single session, said researchers
Researchers including those at the Universities of Maryland and Texas Southwestern Medical Centre in the US show how physiological stressors like exercise can remodel heart tissue.
These findings are important for understanding how exercise provides a protective effect on the heart.
The researchers hope that by understanding this process and basic heart biology, future research may lead to increased life expectancy and drug-free cures for chronic heart problems, including high blood pressure.

The researchers studied the hearts of mice after 30 minutes of running on a treadmill. They looked at how genes were being expressed compared to those in hearts of mice that had not been exercised.

The group results are applicable to humans because these genes are regulated in a similar way to those in humans, said the researchers.
"The genes that are important for genome stability are upregulated in the heart tissue after a single bout of endurance exercise. This may contribute to the protective effects of exercise on cardiovascular health," said Stephen Roth from University of Maryland.
The study was published in the journal Experimental Physiology.