Mild vibrations may provide exercise-like benefits for obese

Nov. 29, 2012 — If you're looking to get some of the benefits of exercise without doing the work, here's some good news. A new research report published online in The FASEB Journal shows that low-intensity vibrations led to improvements in the immune function of obese mice. If the same effect can be found in people, this could have clinical benefits for obese people suffering from a wide range of immune problems related to obesity.

"This study demonstrates that mechanical signals can help restore an immune system compromised by obesity," said Clinton Rubin, Ph.D., study author from the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, New York. "While it is well known that obesity can cripple many physiologic systems, this work suggests that mechanical signals -- in the absence of drugs -- can help combat this disease and its sequelae. That these mechanical signals are so brief, and so mild, is further evidence of how exquisitely tuned our body is to external signals, and that remaining active -- climbing stairs at work, taking a walk at lunch, standing while reading a book -- will help achieve and retain good health. Stand up!"

To make this discovery, Rubin and colleagues fed a group of adult mice a high fat diet for seven months to make them obese. At the end of this first phase of the experiment, the damage to the immune and skeletal systems of the obese mice was significant, decreasing B- and T-cell populations in the blood, and markedly accelerating the loss of bone. The second phase began after the mice were obese relative to regular controls, with the creation of a sub-group that was subjected to daily 15-minute bouts of low-intensity vibration, barely perceptible to human touch. Results showed that the vibration intervention helped to rescue both the immune and skeletal systems, returning them toward outcomes measured in mice that were fed a regular diet. This study provides evidence that obesity markedly reduces the production of B- and T-cells and that brief daily exposure to low magnitude mechanical signals rescues B- and T-cell populations, even in a mouse that is already obese.

"This solid support for a shaky intervention should get scientists and health care professionals buzzing," said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. "If it works out in people, low intensity vibration could be a relatively cheap way of helping obese folks regain health without drugs -- until they lose weight by diet and exercise."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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Journal Reference:

M. E. Chan, B. J. Adler, D. E. Green, C. T. Rubin. Bone structure and B-cell populations, crippled by obesity, are partially rescued by brief daily exposure to low-magnitude mechanical signals. The FASEB Journal, 2012; 26 (12): 4855 DOI: 10.1096/fj.12-209841

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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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Exercise benefits found for pregnancies with high blood pressure, researchers say

Nov. 16, 2012 — Contrary to popular thought, regular exercise before and during pregnancy could have beneficial effects for women that develop high blood pressure during gestation, human physiology professor Jeff Gilbert said, summarizing a new study by his research team that appears in the December issue of Hypertension, a journal of the American Heart Association.

Gilbert's team at the University of Oregon observed that placental ischemia-induced hypertension in rats was alleviated by exercise and was accompanied by a restoration of several circulating factors that have recently been shown to be important in causing the high blood pressure associated with preeclampsia.

Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, such as preeclampsia, are the most common dangerous pregnancy complications, occurring in 5 percent to 8 percent of pregnancies. Globally, preeclampsia and other hypertensive disorders of pregnancy cause 76,000 maternal and 500,000 infant deaths each year, conservatively, according to the Preeclampsia Foundation.

"The data from our study raise the possibility that exercise regimens if started before pregnancy and maintained through most of gestation may be an important way for women to mitigate the risk of preeclampsia," Gilbert said. "There are certainly questions that remain, such as when and how much exercise is required and whether exercise training must begin before pregnancy for these beneficial effects to occur. Moreover, further studies are needed to determine if it can safely be used as a thera­peutic modality for hypertension caused by insufficient blood flow in the placenta.

"But these results are certainly encouraging," he added.

Previous clinical and epidemiological studies have long suggested that regular exercise before and during pregnancy reduced risk of preeclampsia but definitive mechanistic studies on the topic had been lacking until recently. Even though these findings are exciting, there are still safety concerns that need to be evaluated clinically and exercise continues to be discouraged in pregnancies complicated by high blood pressure.

Working in accordance with National Institutes of Health guidelines for animal use, Gilbert's team induced hypertension in pregnant rats by restricting blood flow to the rat placentas and monitored gestation after six weeks of exercise on activity wheels. Animals in test and control groups ran approximately 30 kilometers per week before pregnancy and approximately 4.5 kilometers per week during pregnancy.

Wheel running before and during pregnancy reduced high blood pressure. It also improved circulating concentrations of vascular endothelial growth factor and restored the balance between that factor and soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1, which restricts blood vessel growth and function. The study suggests that exercise lowers high blood pressure by maintaining the balance of these two factors that promote proper blood vessel growth and function.

Exercise also improved endothelial cell function and reduced oxidative stress in the hypertensive rat. Fetal weight was not compromised by exercise and there were no obvious signs of fetal stress in rats with hypertension that exercised, Gilbert said.

The work was supported by a grant from the American Heart Association (10SDG2600040) and a five-year, $1.7 million research project grant to Gilbert from NIH (HL114096) to study preeclampsia.

The latter is an R01 grant, historically the oldest grants offered by NIH, providing support for health-related research and development based on the NIH mission.

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