Aerobic exercise is a promising intervention to attenuate frailty, but preclinical studies have used only male animals. We investigated the impact of voluntary aerobic exercise on frailty, biological age (FRailty Inferred Geriatric Health Timeline [FRIGHT] clock), predicted life expectancy (Analysis of FRAIlty and Death [AFRAID] clock), and mortality in both sexes and determined whether exercise was associated with changes in inflammation. Older (21-23 months) male (n = 12) and female (n = 22) C57Bl/6 mice matched for baseline frailty scores were randomized into exercise (running wheel) and sedentary (no wheel) groups. Frailty index scores were measured biweekly (13 weeks), and 23 serum cytokines were measured at midpoint and end point. Exercise levels varied between mice but not between the sexes. Exercise had no effect on mortality, but it attenuated the development of frailty in both sexes (female = 0.32 ± 0.04 vs 0.21 ± 0.01; p = .005; male = 0.30 ± 0.02 vs 0.22 ± 0.02; p = .042) and reduced frailty in older females after 10 weeks. FRIGHT scores were unaffected by exercise but increased with time in sedentary males indicating increased biological age. Exercise prevented the age-associated decline in AFRAID scores in older females such that exercised females had a longer life expectancy. We investigated whether aerobic exercise was associated with changes in systemic inflammation. Cytokine levels were not affected by exercise in males, but levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines were positively correlated with the frequency of exercise in females. Despite increases in systemic inflammation, exercise reduced frailty and increased life span in older females. Thus, voluntary aerobic exercise, even late in life, has beneficial effects on health in both sexes but may be especially helpful in older females.
Keywords: Biological age; Inflammation; Life expectancy; Sex differences.
© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America.