Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Jun;64(6):658-65.
doi: 10.1016/j.metabol.2015.01.015. Epub 2015 Jan 31.

AMPK binds to Sestrins and mediates the effect of exercise to increase insulin-sensitivity through autophagy

Xiaolei Liu  1 , Yanmei Niu  2 , Hairui Yuan  1 , Jian Huang  3 , Li Fu  4
Affiliations

AMPK binds to Sestrins and mediates the effect of exercise to increase insulin-sensitivity through autophagy

Xiaolei Liu et al. Metabolism. 2015 Jun.

Abstract

Objective: Exercise has beneficial effects on human health, including protection against metabolic disorders such as diabetes. However, the cellular mechanisms underlying the metabolic effects of exercise are not completely understood. We know that autophagy plays an important role in maintaining cellular homeostasis. In this study, we aimed to better understand the metabolic effects of autophagy in skeletal muscle and the role of Sestrins/AMPK in mediating the beneficial effects of physical exercise through autophagy.

Material/methods: We used wild type and AMPKα2(-/-) C57BL/6 mice as animal models to elucidate the role of AMPK in autophagy activation and the metabolism-promoting effects of acute and regular exercise. C2C12 myotubes were used to study the metabolic effects of autophagy in vitro.

Results: Autophagy promotes glucose uptake in skeletal muscle. A single bout of exercise increased the activity of autophagy in the skeletal muscle of wild type mice but not of AMPKα2(-/-) mice. This difference was associated with increased amounts of both Sestrin2 and Sestrin3 coimmunoprecipitated with AMPKα2. Long-term physical exercise significantly increased the basal level of muscle autophagy and protein expression of Sestrin2 and Sestrin3 in both normal chow and high-fat diet-fed mice.

Conclusion: We believe that exercise-induced AMPK and Sestrins interaction may be involved in the beneficial metabolic effects of exercise by activating autophagy. This interaction provides a molecular mechanism that is a potential target in metabolic syndromes.

Keywords: AMP-activated protein kinase; Autophagy; Exercise; Metabolism; Sestrins.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources