Aerobic Exercise Found to Help Treat Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
The most common liver disease on the planet, the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (Nafld), affects almost one in four individuals globally. This accumulation of fat in the liver is common among overweight or obese patients. And as obesity rates continue to increase around the world, more and more people around the world are developing Nafld. A new study, based on experiments on mice and published in the journal Metabolism, discovered that aerobic exercise can help treat precisely this type of pathology.
One of the main characteristics of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is the large concentration of lipid droplets (LD) that accumulate inside the liver cells. Professor María Isabel Heràndez-Alvarez, from the Faculty of Biology at the University of Barcelona, at the Institute of Biomedicine and at the Biomedical Research Network Center on Diabetes and Associated Metabolic Diseases, explains that aerobic exercise, i.e moderate physical activity over time, helps metabolize fats because it reduces the size of lipid droplets and therefore the severity of the disease.
Herández-Alvarez further adds, “Therefore, the energy demands induced by exercise determine regulated changes in physical and functional relationships between fat droplets and mitochondria, the cellular organelles that provide energy for metabolism.” This interaction can occur between a specific population of mitochondria called mitochondria peridroplet. As a result, increased lipid oxidation occurs in this specific population of mitochondria, a process that helps prevent the disease from progressing.
The study also highlights the role of the mitofusina 2 (Mfn-2) protein in this beneficial process triggered by exercise. The protein modifies the communications between the lipid droplets and the specific mitochondrial population. “We found a decrease in the content of saturated fatty acids in the hepatic mitochondrial membranes of animals that had performed physical activity,” explains the scientist. “In the case of mice without the Mfn-2 gene, exposed to physical activity, we did not observe changes in the saturation and metabolism of fatty acids. These results show that the Mfn-2 protein participates in the regulation of the fatty acid composition of mitochondrial membranes in response to physical exercise.”
This groundbreaking study provides insight into the potential benefits of aerobic exercise in treating non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and sheds light on the mechanisms behind its effectiveness. With the prevalence of Nafld increasing worldwide, these findings could have significant implications for the management and treatment of this widespread liver condition.