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Biological and Molecular Aspects of Exercise Adaptation
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Biological and Molecular Aspects of Exercise Adaptation

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2025 | Viewed by 1076

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Alessandra Modesti

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche Sperimentali e Cliniche, Università di Firenze, Florence, Italy
Interests: redox homeostasis; metabolic profile; exercise training; proteomics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Regular physical activity causes a range of changes to occur in the body as it acts to re-establish a new dynamic balance, which occurs at the level of redox homeostasis and metabolic states. These adaptations demonstrate numerous health benefits; however, when training is too intense, prolonged, or not followed by adequate rest, it can have the opposite effect.

Differences in physical activity protocols, the choice of sampling time points, and the physiological characteristics of subjects are just some of the factors that can influence studies on adaptation to physical activity; however, the use of molecular biology techniques such as omics allows us to explore this complex interplay.

Our aim in launching this Special Issue is to evaluate the molecular aspects of exercise adaptation, focusing on the role of sport type, sex, age, and other biological factors that can influence exercise adaptation. The studies included will help to elucidate the biological processes involved in exercise adaptation. A better understanding of how physical activity exerts beneficial effects will allow the identification of molecules and biological pathways that can be used to monitor the health status of athletes and to develop more effective training programs that avoid harmful phenomena such as overtraining and overreaching, as well as maximizing health benefits for the prevention and treatment of diseases.

This Special Issue will be supervised by Prof. Alessandra Modesti, with assistance from Dr. Rosamaria Militello (University of Florence).

Prof. Dr. Alessandra Modesti
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • exercise
  • redox homeostasis
  • metabolic state
  • biological
  • physiological

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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26 pages, 3769 KiB  
Article
Rest Induces a Distinct Transcriptional Program in the Nervous System of the Exercised L. stagnalis
by Julian M. Rozenberg, Dmitri Boguslavsky, Ilya Chistopolsky, Igor Zakharov and Varvara Dyakonova
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2025, 26(14), 6970; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms26146970 - 20 Jul 2025
Viewed by 318
Abstract
In the freshwater snail L. stagnalis, two hours of shallow water crawling exercise are accompanied by the formation of memory, metabolic, neuronal, and behavioral changes, such as faster orientation in a novel environment. Interestingly, rest following exercise enhances serotonin and dopamine metabolism [...] Read more.
In the freshwater snail L. stagnalis, two hours of shallow water crawling exercise are accompanied by the formation of memory, metabolic, neuronal, and behavioral changes, such as faster orientation in a novel environment. Interestingly, rest following exercise enhances serotonin and dopamine metabolism linked to the formation of memory and adaptation to novel conditions. However, the underlying transcriptional responses are not characterized. In this paper, we show that, while two hours of forced crawling exercise in L. stagnalis produce significant changes in nervous system gene expression, the subsequent rest induces a completely distinct transcriptional program. Chromatin-modifying, vesicle transport, and cell cycle genes were induced, whereas neurodevelopmental, behavioral, synaptic, and hormone response genes were preferentially repressed immediately after two hours of exercise. These changes were normalized after two hours of the subsequent rest. In turn, rest induced the expression of genes functioning in neuron differentiation and synapse structure/activity, while mitotic, translational, and protein degradation genes were repressed. Our findings are likely relevant to the physiology of exercise, rest, and learning in other species. For example, chronic voluntary exercise training in mice affects the expression of many homologous genes in the hippocampus. Moreover, in humans, homologous genes are pivotal for normal development and complex neurological functions, and their mutations are associated with behavioral, learning, and neurodevelopmental abnormalities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biological and Molecular Aspects of Exercise Adaptation)
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Review

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24 pages, 1141 KiB  
Review
Omics Sciences in Regular Physical Activity
by Rosamaria Militello, Simone Luti and Alessandra Modesti
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2025, 26(12), 5529; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms26125529 - 10 Jun 2025
Viewed by 549
Abstract
The multiple health benefits of regular physical activity are well known and are the results of exercise adaptations. The study of physical training biology is not straightforward since it involves organ crosstalk and depends on numerous variables, such as type of exercise or [...] Read more.
The multiple health benefits of regular physical activity are well known and are the results of exercise adaptations. The study of physical training biology is not straightforward since it involves organ crosstalk and depends on numerous variables, such as type of exercise or individual physiology. A multiomic approach allows us to analyze proteins, metabolites, lipids, and epigenetic modifications on a wide scale, so it is a valid tool to identify numerous patterns and clarify how exercise exerts its beneficial effects. Stimuli given by physical activity lead the body to re-establish a new dynamic balance at the level of redox homeostasis and metabolic state. Evaluating the effect of specific training is important for maximizing the beneficial effects of physical activity. In this review we provide a brief overview of different omics technologies used in this field. For each “omics” we analyzed studies published in the last 10 years and highlighted the main molecules identified with that approach. We then described future challenges in their application from the perspective of using new bioinformatics and artificial intelligence tools. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biological and Molecular Aspects of Exercise Adaptation)
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