Muscle-Liver Substrate Fluxes in Exercising Humans and Potential Effects on Hepatic Metabolism

Context: The liver is crucial to maintain energy homeostasis during exercise. Skeletal muscle-derived metabolites can contribute to the regulation of hepatic metabolism.

Objective: We aim to elucidate which metabolites are released from the working muscles and taken up by the liver in exercising humans and their potential influence on hepatic function.

Methods: In two separate studies, young healthy men fasted overnight and then performed an acute bout of exercise. Arterial-to-venous differences of metabolites over the hepato-splanchnic bed and over the exercising and resting leg were investigated by capillary electrophoresis- and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry metabolomics platforms. Liver transcriptome data of exercising mice were analyzed by pathway analysis to find a potential overlap between exercise-regulated metabolites and activators of hepatic transcription.

Results: During exercise, hepatic O2 uptake and CO2 delivery were increased two-fold. In contrast to all other free fatty acids (FFA), those FFA with 18 or more carbon atoms and a high degree of saturation showed a constant release in the liver vein and only minor changes by exercise. FFA 6:0 and 8:0 were released from the working leg and taken up by the hepato-splanchnic bed. Succinate and malate showed a pronounced hepatic uptake during exercise and were also released from the exercising leg. The transcriptional response in the liver of exercising mice indicates the activation of HIF-, NRF2-, and cAMP-dependent gene transcription. These pathways can also be activated by succinate.

Conclusion: Metabolites circulate between working muscles and the liver and may support the metabolic adaption to exercise by acting both as substrates and as signaling molecules.