Deciphering Muscle-Nerve Communication Via Mitochondrial Myopathy Insights: Exploring the Effects of Exercise Training

What this Trial Is About

Researchers are investigating how exercise training affects the molecular processes in skeletal muscle for adults with mitochondrial myopathy compared to healthy adults. The study aims to understand how exercise influences mitochondrial activity, energy production, muscle growth signals, stress responses, and muscle-nerve communication in people with this condition. By comparing trained and untrained legs within participants and between affected and healthy groups, the study seeks to reveal differences in molecular responses to exercise. Participants will take part in a 3-4 week supervised unilateral aerobic interval training program, completing 10 high-intensity interval training sessions using one leg, while the other leg remains untrained as a control. The study includes two groups: adults with mitochondrial myopathy caused by mutations in mitochondrial or nuclear DNA, and matched healthy control subjects. This design allows direct comparison of muscle adaptations within individuals and between groups. Before and after the intervention, participants will undergo comprehensive assessments including muscle strength and endurance tests, body and leg composition analysis, and maximal oxygen uptake measurements. Muscle biopsies from both legs will be collected after the training period to evaluate mitochondrial respiration, reactive oxygen species production, muscle structure, neuromuscular junction morphology, protein synthesis, and various molecular pathways through multi-omics analyses. The research will measure these outcomes to understand how exercise may reverse muscle and mitochondrial defects in mitochondrial myopathy, with study participation lasting around 3-4 weeks plus follow-up assessments.

Exercise Training Effects on Muscle Function in Adults With Mitochondrial Myopathy