Recent discoveries bring up new insights on the processes by which muscles connect with other organs and modulate the positive effects of physical exertion due to the application of molecular approaches to the biology of physical exercise. Previous studies looked at metabolic responses to exercise and the molecular processes that underpin skeletal muscle adaptation to training. It became apparent that the biology that underpins maximal exercise performance has applications outside of sports. High-intensity exercise causes a large drop in SaO2, which compromises the supply of O2 to contract skeletal muscles and leads to a decline in physical performance in certain well-trained endurance athletes. These modifications help to explain why, following training, activities with any given submaximal intensity of effort result in decreased heart rate and blood pressure. They also lead to a long-term drop in blood pressure following physical activity.
At least in animal models, many adaptive responses of skeletal muscles to training may be replicated via genetic modification and/or pharmacological therapy. Given the multiple health advantages of exercise, the finding of genetic and orally-active medicines that imitate or improve the effects of endurance exercise is a long-standing, if elusive, medical objective,” according to one source. Recognizing the known advantages of exercise for health outcomes and the population’s increasing inactivity, researchers are looking for orally-active molecules that imitate or improve the effects of exercise. Multiple and obviously repeated molecular pathways implicated in several essential acute and chronic responses to physical activity have been found in skeletal muscles and other tissues using molecular approaches in the biology of physical exercise. Clearly, a major challenge for physical fitness experts in the next 40 years will be to correlate diverse signaling cascades to metabolic responses and changes in skeletal muscles that occur after exercise.