A Short Bike Ride Helps Your Muscles Clear

A short bike ride helps your muscles clear

The ten-minute intense ride accelerates the breakdown of old proteins that the body must replace with new ones. Scientists believe they have discovered an important mechanism for the beneficial effects of physical activity on the body.

Photo: Paul Theodor

Physical activity is considered an essential part of a healthy lifestyle, but our understanding of the specific mechanisms of its action on the body is still limited. Scientists have discovered a feature of muscle work, thanks to which even a short bike ride helps the body to clear itself of harmful substances.

The new study, which was conducted by scientists from Denmark and Australia, is published in FASEB Journa l (the journal of the Federation of Societies for Experimental Biology of the USA).

The study authors focused on the protein ubiquintin. It has been previously shown that it plays an important role in clearing the "cellular vacuum" (the space between cells): it "marks" abnormal and defective proteins for subsequent destruction so that they can be replaced by normal ones.

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Now the authors of the study have presented new evidence that even small physical activity (corresponding to a short bike ride) helps the body to cleanse itself.

Scientists performed blood tests and muscle biopsies on six healthy male volunteers to track the "behavior" of ubiquintin at rest and after one session of exercise. It turned out that intense exercise on a stationary bike for 10 minutes leads to significant changes in the cleansing of muscles from unnecessary, worn-out proteins.

“Muscles get rid of worn-out proteins in several ways. In one of these, ubiquintin, a 'lethal marker', marks a protein for destruction,”explained Professor Erik Richter of the University of Copenhagen, co-author of the study. He added that after ubiquintin attaches to a worn-out protein, it is sent to the proteazosome, where it is broken down into amino acids. The amino acids can then be reused. Therefore, the mechanism in which ubiquintin is involved ensures the sustainable reuse of these building blocks.

Scientists believe that maintaining muscle health is necessary not only for maintaining strength, but also for regulating metabolism. Muscle is known to be an important storage facility for carbohydrates in the body. New data have shown that muscle work helps the body to clear unwanted proteins.