Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a major global public health challenge. Aerobic exercise (AE) can be a key strategy for non-pharmacological intervention in T2DM through multi-targeted modulation of glucose and lipid metabolism, inhibition of chronic inflammation, and reduction of oxidative stress. This study aims to investigate the current status of AE intervention in T2DM research and analyze its future evolution. Methods: Using the R-based bibliometric software package and the Java-based visualization software CiteSpace and VOSviewer, we analyzed the literature and cited references related to AE intervention in T2DM research included in the Web of Science Core Collection (WOSCC) and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) from 2014 to 2024. Results: This study included a total of 882 relevant literature sources (488 of which were indexed in WOSCC and 394 in CNKI). From the perspective of research trends, the number of literature sources on AE interventions for T2DM has shown fluctuating changes over time. In terms of research output, the United States, China, and Canada are at the forefront. It is worth noting that, although China has a relatively high number of published papers, there is still a significant gap in terms of the depth of international collaboration and the presentation of results in top-tier journals. Among researchers, Dai Xia (China) and Riddell MC (Canada) are the scholars with the highest number of published articles in this field. Keyword analysis indicates that mechanisms such as oxidative stress, insulin resistance, inflammatory responses, and glucose metabolism disorders remain core research hotspots. Time-series analysis reveals that the research paradigm in this field has evolved from single exercise methods to comprehensive exercise prescription studies, and multi-dimensional intervention studies combining exercise, diet, and pharmacological interventions are emerging as new research frontiers. Conclusions: This study uses bibliometric methods to visualize and analyze the progress of AE in T2DM intervention research from a broader perspective, providing a scientific overview and macro-level predictions for the research landscape in this field.
Nutrition is a complex and contested area in biomedicine, which requires diverse evidence sources. Nonhuman primate models are considered an important biomedical research tool because of their biological similarities to humans, but they are typically used with little explicit consideration of their ecology and evolution. Using the rhesus macaque (RM), we consider the potential of nutritional ecology for enriching the use of primates as models for human nutrition. We introduce some relevant aspects of RM evolutionary and social ecology and discuss two examples where they have been used in biomedical research: obesity and aging. We next consider how insights from nutritional ecology can help inform and direct the use of RM as a biomedical model. We conclude by illustrating how conceptual tools might inform the use of RM as a model for human nutrition and extracting insights from RM that might be relevant to broader theoretical considerations around animal model systems.
BACKGROUND:Icariin (ICA) is a flavonoid, that has been shown to exert antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. We aimed to explore the effects of acute exhaustive exercise on skeletal muscle injury and inflammatory factor levels, and investigate the anti-injury and anti-inflammatory effects of ICA through gut microbiota modulation. METHODS:Thirty C57BL/6J mice were administered ICA by gavage for 8 consecutive weeks, which were randomly divided into 3 groups as follows: solvent gavage control group (CON), 25 mg/kg ICA gavage group (ICA-L), and 50 mg/kg ICA gavage group (ICA-H). Serum biochemical and skeletal muscle antioxidant indicators were measured. Antioxidant enzyme activities and anti-inflammatory factor levels were determined. Additionally, gut microbiota were sequenced and analyzed by 16S rDNA and the correlations between metabolic indices and microbial species were assessed using Spearman correlation analysis. RESULTS:ICA alleviated oxidative stress in skeletal muscle by reducing malondialdehyde (MDA) levels and upregulating the activities and mRNA expression of antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX)). In addition, ICA suppressed inflammation through downregulation of tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α), nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), and inflammatory cytokines (interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β)). Gut microbiota analysis revealed ICA enriched short-chain fatty acid (SCFA)-producing bacteria while inhibiting pathogens, with microbial shifts significantly correlated with muscle injury and antioxidant parameters, including Lachnospiraceae_NK4A136_group, Mucispirillum, and Harryflintia. CONCLUSIONS:Our study demonstrated that ICA ameliorated exercise-induced acute muscle injury and inflammation in mice by modulating gut microbiota composition and regulating NF-κB signaling pathway along with related antioxidant enzyme gene expression.
Tobacco leaves need to aged under certain temperatures and humidity for 1 to 3 years. Natural aging, also called fermentation, is a slow process. This article explores the correlation between microorganisms on the surface of flue-cured tobacco and key flavor substances during this process. High-throughput sequencing was used to characterize the composition of bacterial and fungal communities on the surface of flue-cured tobacco from Hunan, Liaoning, Guizhou, Shandong, Yunnan, Fujian, Brazil, and Zimbabwe. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was employed to determine the flavor substances in flue-cured tobacco and correlation analysis between microbial diversity and flavor substances was performed. The function and abundance of key enzymes involved in the degradation of macromolecules on the surface of flue-cured tobacco were predicted using PICRUSt and FUNGuild. Different flavor styles of flue-cured tobacco possessed different flora structures, and the abundance of the genus Bacillus was high and significantly positively correlated with the content of the main flavor substances-carotenoid and cembranoid degradation products (p < 0.05). The content of the Enterobacter genus was higher in light-flavor style flue-cured tobacco and significantly negatively correlated with the above substances (p < 0.05). Among the fungal genera, Wallemia exhibited a significantly positive correlation with phenylacetic acid, palmitic acid, and & alpha;-ionol (p < 0.05). The abundance of the macromolecule-degrading enzymes in the bacterial community was generally higher than in the fungal community, especially the enzymes that hydrolyzed, transferred, and isomerized starch, protein, and cellulose. Classifying the tobacco leaves according to the flavor style revealed that the expression levels of a series of enzymes acting on pectin hydrolysis and cleavage and laccase were higher in strong-flavor flue-cured tobacco. This study explored the microorganisms related to the key substances of flue-cured tobacco and provided a theoretical basis for using microorganisms to improve the flavor.
Background and Objectives: We aimed to explore the relationship between dietary patterns and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) during pre-pregnancy six months using principal component analysis (PCA) and the geo-metric framework for nutrition (GFN). Methods and Study Design: We conducted a case-control study that included 210 GDM pregnant women and 210 controls. The dietary intake of all participants was assessed by a validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Major dietary patterns were extracted by PCA. A conditional logistic regression model was used to determine whether specific dietary patterns are associated with the risk of GDM. Meanwhile, the relationship between dietary patterns and GDM was visualized using GFN. Results: Four major dietary patterns were identified: "protein-rich pattern," "plant-based pattern," "oil-pickles-desserts pattern," and "cereals-nuts pattern." After adjustment for confounders, the "plant-based pattern" was associated with decreased risk of GDM (Q4 vs. Q1: OR = 0.01, 95% CI: 0.00 similar to 0.08), whereas no significant association was found in other dietary patterns. Moreover, there was no dietary intake of ice cream cones and deep-fried dough sticks for the population, which would produce fewer patients with GDM. Deep-fried dough sticks had statistically significant differences in the case and control groups (p< 0.001), while ice cream cones had the opposite result. Conclusions: The "plant-based pattern" may reduce the risk of GDM. Besides, although the "cereals-nuts pattern" had no association with GDM risk, avoiding the intake of deep-fried dough sticks could decrease GDM risk.
Mitochondrial biogenesis is a key factor in regulating skeletal muscle function and homeostasis. At present, a growing number of natural polyphenols, flavonoids and other compounds have been reported to have the function of regulating skeletal muscle oxidative metabolism. Here, we aimed to explore the effect of the flavonoid compound icariin purified from Epimedium koreanum Nakai in regulating mitochondrial biogenesis in mice and C2C12 myotubes. We found that icariin elevated the inverted suspension time by 1.72-fold and the distance run on the treadmill by 1.52-fold in mice. Daytime respiratory exchange ratio was significantly lower in mice after 8 weeks of icariin treatment compared to control groups. Icariin activated the mitochondrial biogenetic signaling pathway and mitochondrial marker expression, and the mitochondrial size of gastrocnemius and soleus was increased by 2.3-fold and 2.0-fold in mice, respectively. In addition, icariin elevated mitochondrial DNA copy number by 1.41-fold and 1.54-fold in gastrocnemius and C2C12 myotube cells, respectively. In vitro studies showed that inhibition of p-AMPK and PPAR delta could attenuate ICA-regulated mitochondrial biogenetic pathway. Our study suggests that icariin promotes mitochondrial biogenesis and exercise endurance through AMPKPPAR delta-PGC-1 alpha signaling pathway in C57BL/6 J mice skeletal muscle, indicating that icariin may be able to regulate muscle mitochondria function as an exercise mimetic.
Slow oxidative myofibers play an important role in improving muscle endurance performance and maintaining body energy homeostasis. However, the targets and means to regulate slow oxidative myofibers proportion remain unknown. Here, we show that tangeretin (TG), a natural polymethoxylated flavone, significantly activates slow oxidative myofibers-related gene expression and increases type I myofibers proportion, resulting in improved endurance performance and aerobic metabolism in mice. Proteomics, molecular dynamics, cellular thermal shift assay (CETSA) and drug affinity responsive target stability (DARTS) investigations revealed that TG can directly bind to adiponectin receptor 1 (AdipoR1). Using AdipoR1-knockdown C2C12 cells and muscle-specific AdipoR1-knockout mice, we found that the positive effect of TG on regulating slow oxidative myofiber related markers expression is mediated by AdipoR1 and its downstream AMPK/PGC-1α pathway. Together, our data uncover TG as a natural compound that regulates the identity of slow oxidative myofibers via targeting the AdipoR1 signaling pathway. These findings further unveil the new function of TG in increasing the proportion of slow oxidative myofibers and enhancing skeletal muscle performance.
Diet and nutrition comprise a complex, multi-faceted interface between animal biology and food environments. With accumulating information on the many facets of this association arises a need for systems-based approaches that integrate dietary components and their links with ecology, feeding, post-ingestive processes and the functional and ecological consequences of these interactions. We briefly show how a modelling approach, nutritional geometry, has used the experimental control afforded in laboratory studies to begin to unravel these links. Laboratory studies, however, have limited ability to establish whether and how the feeding and physiological mechanisms interface with realistic ecological environments. We next provide an overview of observational field studies of free-ranging primates that have examined this, producing largely correlative data suggesting that similar feeding mechanisms operate in the wild as in the laboratory. Significant challenges remain, however, in establishing causal links between feeding, resource variation and physiological processes in the wild. We end with a more detailed account of two studies of temperate primates that have capitalized on the discrete variation provided by seasonal environments to strengthen causal inference in field studies and link patterns of intake to dynamics of nutrient processing. This article is part of the theme issue 'Food processing and nutritional assimilation in animals'.
Obesity is a serious public health issue worldwide. Growing evidence demonstrates the efficacy of the ketogenic diet (KD) for weight loss, but there may be some adverse side effects such as dyslipidemia and hepatic steatosis. Aerobic exercise is a widely recognized approach for improving these metabolic markers. Here we explored the combined impacts of KD and moderate aerobic exercise for an 8-week intervention on body weight and fat loss, serum biomarkers, and hepatic lipid metabolism in a mouse model of high-fat diet-induced obesity. Both KD and KD combined with exercise significantly reduced body weight and fat mass. No significant adverse effects of KD were observed in serum biomarkers or hepatic lipid storage, except for an increase in circulating triglyceride level. However, aerobic exercise lowered serum triglyceride levels, and further ameliorated serum parameters, and hepatic steatosis in KD-fed mice. Moreover, gene and protein expression analysis indicated that KD combined with exercise was associated with increased expression of lipolysis-related genes and protein levels, and reduced expression of lipogenic genes relative to KD without exercise. Overall, our findings for mice indicate that further work on humans might reveal that KD combined with moderate aerobic exercise could be a promising therapeutic strategy for obesity.
Evolving evidence supports the role of the ketogenic diet (KD) in weight loss. However, no coherent conclusions are drawn on its impact on the effect of KD on exercise and antioxidant capacity after weight loss in obese individuals. We evaluated the exercise performance, energy metabolism and antioxidant capacity of mice after weight loss using high-fat diet-induced obese mice, and used KD and normal diet (ND) intervention, respectively, to provide a theoretical basis for further study of the health effects of KD. Our results showed that the 8-week KD significantly reduced the body weight of obese mice and improved the performance of treadmill exercise, but had no significant effect on grip strength. Serum biochemical results suggest that KD has the risk of elevating blood lipid. In liver tissue, KD significantly reduced the level of oxidative stress and increased the antioxidant capacity of the liver. Our findings suggest that the intervention with KD led to weight loss, modulate energy metabolism and improve aerobic exercise endurance in obese mice. Despite its antioxidant potential in the liver, the utilization of KD still requires caution. This study underscores the need for further investigation into the health impacts of KD, especially in regard to its potential risks.
Primates living in high-latitude habitats are expected to employ feeding strategies appropriate to harsh environments characterized by strong seasonality in temperature and food resources. We studied diet, feeding behavior, and seasonal changes in food availability in wild Taihangshan macaques (Macaca mulatta tcheliensis) living in a northern montane habitat (800–1700 m) in Mt. Tiantanshan area, Jiyuan, north China. From June 2016 to May 2017, we collected data on the diet and feeding behavior of one group of macaques and measured food availability in twenty 20-m × 20-m plots in their home range. We identified 105 plant species eaten by the macaques, belonging to 44 genera and 30 families. The macaques’ diet comprised nine major categories: seeds (45.9
Growing evidence supports the efficacy of ketogenic diets for inducing weight loss, but there are also potential health risks due to their unbalanced nutrient composition. We aim at assessing relative effectiveness of a balanced diet and ketogenic diet for reversing metabolic syndrome in a diet-induced C57BL/6J mouse model. Mice were fed high-fat diet to induce obesity. Obese individuals were then fed either ketogenic or balanced diets as an obesity intervention. Serum, liver, fat and faecal samples were analysed. We observed that both diet interventions led to significant decrease in body weight. The ketogenic intervention was less effective in reducing adipocyte cell size and led to dyslipidaemia. The composition of the gut microbiome in the balanced diet intervention was more similar to the non-obese control group and had improved functional attributes. Our results indicate intervention with balanced diets ameliorates obesity more safely and effectively than ketogenic diets in diet-induced obesity mouse model.
Animals require specific blends of nutrients that vary across the life course and with circumstances, e.g., health and activity levels. Underpinning and complicating these requirements is that individual traits may be optimized on different dietary compositions leading to nutrition-mediated trade-offs among outcomes. Additionally, the food environment may constrain which nutrient mixtures are achievable. Natural selection has equipped animals for solving such multi-dimensional, dynamic challenges of nutrition, but little is understood about the details and their theoretical and practical implications. We present an integrative framework, nutritional geometry, which models complex nutritional interactions in the context of multiple nutrients and across levels of biological organization (e.g., cellular, individual, and population) and levels of analysis (e.g., mechanistic, developmental, ecological, and evolutionary). The framework is generalizable across different situations and taxa. We illustrate this using examples spanning insects to primates and settings (laboratory, and the wild), and demonstrate its relevance for human health.
DEAR EDITOR, Dietary generalism is widely associated with ecological flexibility,but the mechanisms of this relationship remain poorly understood.A recently developed body of theory on the relationship between generalism/specialism at the levels of foods selected vs.nutrients ingested,termed multi-level dietary niche theory,offers a powerful opportunity to deepen our understanding of the dietary generalist-specialist spectrum and its ecological significance.
课程思政的本质是立德树人,理念是协同育人,主要将思想政治教育的理论知识、价值理念以及精神追求等思想政治教育元素融入学科课程中,潜移默化地对学生的思想意识、行为举止产生有益影响。《运动生理学》是人体生理学的一个分支,是研究人体的运动能力和对运动反应和适应过程的科学,也是体育科学中一门重要的基础理论课程,蕴含较多的思政教育价值。本文通过构建科学合理的教学团队,引入不同的典型案例,在运动生理学课程中融入思政教育元素,引导当代大学生树立正确的世界观、价值观和人生观,培养崇尚科学和具有爱国主义精神的社会主义接班人。
Sesamin, a major lignin mainly found in sesame (Sesamum indicum) oil and sesame seeds, has been demonstrated to possess lipoclasis-promoting, antiobesity, and antidiabetic effects. Irisin is a newly discovered myokine that has attracted great interest as a key target to prevent/treat obesity and its related metabolic diseases. However, the effect and potential mechanism of sesamin on FNDC5/irisin are still vacant. In this study, we showed that sesamin treatment increased FNDC5/irisin activation and regulated SIRT1, PGC-1α, and p-SMAD3/SMAD3 expression in C2C12 cells. By using specific inhibitors and lentivirus in C2C12 cells, we found that the SIRT1/SMAD3 axis plays an important role in sesamin regulated FNDC5/irisin activation. We also found that sesamin treatment activated FNDC5 expression and regulated the SIRT1/SMAD3 signaling axis in mice's skeletal muscle. What is more, by the high-fat diet induced obese model, we further showed that sesamin improved the high-fat diet induced decrease in irisin production and secretion, which results in an improvement of body weight gain and skeletal muscle dysfunction. Our results suggested that sesamin could activate FNDC5 expression and stimulate irisin secretion through the SIRT1 pathway both in vitro and in vivo, which may provide a new strategy for preventing and improving irisin deficiency related diseases.
Naringin, a natural flavonoid mainly found in citrus fruit, has been reported to exert a positive effect on improving skeletal muscle health. However, the effects and potential mechanisms of naringin on skeletal muscle fiber switching is still unclear. Here, we discovered that oral administration of naringin increased the low-speed running time, four-limb hanging time, body oxygen consumption in mice, enhanced aerobic enzyme activity, MyHC I expression, and slow-twitch fiber percentage in mice skeletal muscle. By contrast, naringin decreased α-GPDH enzyme activity, MyHC IIb expression, and fast-twitch fiber percentage. Moreover, naringin increased the concentration of serum adiponectin and activated the expression of AdipoR1, APPL1, AMPK, and PGC-1α. Furthermore, by the in vitro experiment and AdipoR1 knockdown, we found that inhibition of the AdipoR1 signaling pathway significantly reduced the effect of naringin on slow-twitch fiber-/fast-twitch fiber-related gene and protein expression. In conclusion, our results indicated that naringin could induce skeletal muscle fiber transition from fast twitch to slow twitch via the AdipoR1 signaling pathway. This study may provide new strategy for improving exercise endurance and slow muscle fiber deficiency-related diseases.
Increasing energy expenditure by activating thermogenesis in brown and beige adipocytes is a critical approach to protect against obesity. Here, we investigated the action and mechanism of a natural polymethoxyflavone on adaptive thermogenesis in high-fat diet-induced obesity mouse model. Nobiletin treatment significantly ameliorated obesity, alleviated the whitening of brown adipose tissue, and promoted browning of white adipose tissue in mice fed a high-fat diet. Gut microbiota analysis and metabolomic profiling revealed that nobiletin treatment resulted in a composition shift in the gut microbiota thereby altering fermentation products acetate levels in the host feces and serum. Further, transplantation of the microbiota from nobiletin-treated mice to microbiota-depleted mice activated brown adipose tissue activity, promoted beige adipocytes formation, and improved high-fat diet-induced obesity. Our results indicate that nobiletin could be used as a dietary therapy to prevent HFD-induced obesity, and provide a potential target-specific gut microbial species-driven mechanism for activating thermogenesis in brown and beige adipocytes.
Food supply is one of the major drivers of animal behavior, and the gut microbiome is an important mediator between food supply and its effects on physiology. However, predicting the outcome of diet change on microbiome and consequences for the animal has proven extremely challenging. We propose this reflects processes occurring at different scales. Inadequate accounting for the multi-level complexity of nutrition (nutrients, foods, diets) obscures the diet influence on microbiome and subsequently animal. Here, we present a detailed year-round, multi-level analysis of diet and microbiome changes in a wild population of a temperate primate, the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta). Total daily food and nutrient intake of 6 male and 6 female macaques was monitored in each of the 4 seasons (total 120 days observations). For each individual, we found significant variation in the microbiome between all 4 seasons. This response was more strongly correlated with changes in macronutrient intake than with food items and much of the response could be explained at the level of 6 ecological guilds-sets of taxa sharing similar responses to nutrient intake. We conclude that study of diet, microbiome, and animal performance in ecology will more effectively identify patterns if diet is recorded at the level of nutrient intake. Although microbiome response to diet does show variation in species-level taxa in response to food items, there is greater commonality in response at the level of guilds. A goal for microbiome researchers should be to identify genes encoding microbial attributes that can define such guilds.