An article by York researchers that examines the impact of exercise and resveratrol on muscle formation has been chosen as one of the best papers published last year by The Journal of Biological Chemistry.
The paper, “Sirtuin 1-Mediated Effects of Exercise and Resveratrol on Mitochondrial Biogenesis”, was authored by York Faculty of Health Professor David Hood, Canada Research Chair in Cell Physiology, grad student Keir J. Menzies of the Department of Biology and a recipient of a doctoral award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and grad students Kaustabh Singh and Ayesha Saleem of the School of Kinesiology and Health Science in the Faculty of Health. All of the authors conduct research in York’s Muscle Health Research Centre.
It is one of the top 22 papers out of more than 4,000 papers that the Journal of Biological Chemistry published in 2013 for each of its categories. Each paper was chosen as the best of its category; in this case, metabolism.
The article looks at the effects of resveratrol compared with exercise on the formation of mitochondria in skeletal muscle cells, and the role of Sirtuin 1 (SirT1) protein.
What the research found was that exercise increased the formation of mitochondria, and that the addition of resveratrol increased the effect of exercise even further, if SirT1 was present. In its absence, the effect of resveratrol was absent. Thus, SirT1 is important in maintaining the content and function of muscle mitochondria, and it helps to produce more mitochondria when we exercise.