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▎Edited by WuXi AppTec Content Team 

We often hear that "exercise is good for health". Many studies in the past have shown that moderate exercise will undoubtedly promote the body'smetabolismand help prevent from multiple dimensionsCardiovascular disease, the occurrence of metabolic diseases. For many people, although they know that exercise is beneficial, it is difficult to actually take action and stick to it, which has led to various phenomena such as "lying down today and pushing up tomorrow".

If you still look forward to exercise but have no intention to move, a study in Science Advances may help solve this problem in the future.cancerResearchers at the CNIO have found a molecular mechanism that regulates the willingness to exercise by analyzing muscle samples from humans and mice after exercise. They found that the p38 signaling pathway is activated during skeletal muscle exercise, but in the p38 protein family,The more active p38γ is, the more helpful it is for individuals to have healthier metabolism and lose weight. It can also further trigger downstream mechanisms to make individuals more willing to continue exercising.。

The researchers first sampled thigh muscles from volunteers who were cycling, and their analysis showed that endurance exercise induced the expression of p38α in the muscles. To explore the role of this protein, they tried knocking out the p38α protein in mice, and the results showed that the lack of p38α improved the mice's motor coordination and balance, increased their activity, and made it less likely that the mice would become fatigued due to a high-fat diet.obesity, metabolic characteristics should also be healthier.

But why did the absence of exercise-activated p38α make mice more active? The authors further discovered thatWhen p38α was lost, another member of the family, p38γ, took advantage of the opportunity to increase significantlyIf p38γ is directly overactivated in mouse muscles, the mice will show a stronger desire to exercise, such as running on a running wheel and increasing their running speed. The total mileage of the mice is significantly greater than that of wild-type mice, indicating that p38γ is the key to the generation of motor behavior.