Voluntary exercise, rat, colon mucosa

ABSTRACT: Colon cancer is the second most cancer type in Europe. Its development is highly influenced by life style factors such as nutrition and physical inactivity. Detailed biological mechanisms are so far unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of chronic wheel running on gene expression in rat colon mucosa. Therefore six-week-old male Wistar rats (exercise (EX) group, n=20) completed a stress free voluntary running exercise period of 12 weeks. Sedentary rats served as a control (CO, n=9) group. In the colon mucosa, steady-state mRNA expression levels of approximately 10,000 genes were compared between both groups by micro-array analysis (MWG rat 10k array). 8,846 mRNAs were detected above background level. Chronic exercise led to a decreased expression of 47 genes at a threshold-factor of 2.0. 3 genes were found to be up-regulated in the EX group. The identified genes encode proteins involved in signal transduction (n=11), transport (n=8), immune system (n=7), cytoskeleton (n=6), protein targeting (n=6) and metabolism (n=5). Among the genes regulated by chronic exercise, the betaine-homocysteine methyltransferase 2 (BHMT2) seems to be of particular interest. Physical activity may protect against aberrant methylation by repressing the BHMT2 gene and thus contribute to a decreased risk of developing colon cancer. In summary, our experiment presents the first gene expression pattern in rat colon mucosa following chronic wheel running and therefore represents an important step in understanding the molecular mechanisms responsible for the preventive effect of physical activity on the development of colon cancer. Keywords: voluntary running exercise, animal model

ORGANISM(S): Rattus norvegicus

PROVIDER: GSE3342 | GEO | 2007/05/30

SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA93253

REPOSITORIES: GEO