A new study conducted by researchers from Norwegian University of Science and Technology, or NTNU, has said that aerobic exercises such as running, swimming or cycling may restore cardiac protein quality control system in heart failure. The study was published in the Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine.
According to the researchers, The study conducted in rats suggest that heart failure development is associated with disruption of cardiac protein quality control system and reinforce the importance of aerobic exercise training as a primary non-pharmacological therapy for treatment. Heart failure is a common endpoint for many cardiovascular diseases. This syndrome is characterised by reduced cardiac output that leads to dyspnea, exercise intolerance and later death.
More than 20 million people worldwide are estimated to have heart failure and this situation will get worse since the prevalence of heart failure will rise as the mean age of the population increases. Though heart failure seems to be a multifactorial syndrome, a common point observed by several studies was the accumulation of bad, or misfolded, proteins in cardiac cells of both humans and animals with heart failure. Proteins are constituted by a sequence of amino acids that determines the protein shape, or structure, which is critical for proteins function.
The researchers feel that, during the process of evolution, human cells developed a protein quality control system. This system refolds or degrades misfiled proteins. It also allows them to keep only the good, or correctly folded, proteins. Say the researchers, The results suggest that heart failure development is associated with disruption of cardiac protein quality control system and reinforce the importance of aerobic exercise training as a primary non-pharmacological therapy for treatment of heart failure patients.