Signaling pathways regulated by natural active ingredients in the fight against exercise fatigue-a review

Rongyue Zhao; Ruomeng Wu; Junjie Jin; Ke Ning; Zhuo Wang; Xuejie Yi; Leonid Kapilevich; Jiao Liu

doi:10.3389/fphar.2023.1269878

Signaling pathways regulated by natural active ingredients in the fight against exercise fatigue-a review

Front Pharmacol. 2023 Dec 14:14:1269878. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2023.1269878. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Rongyue Zhao¹, Ruomeng Wu¹, Junjie Jin¹, Ke Ning¹, Zhuo Wang¹, Xuejie Yi², Leonid Kapilevich³, Jiao Liu¹

Affiliations

¹ College of Exercise and Health, Shenyang Sport University, Shenyang, China.
² Exercise and Health Research Center, Department of Kinesiology, Shenyang Sport University, Shenyang, Liaoning, China.
³ Faculty of Physical Education, Nаtionаl Reseаrch Tomsk Stаte University, Tomsk, Russia.

Abstract

Exercise fatigue is a normal protective mechanism of the body. However, long-term fatigue hinders normal metabolism and exercise capacity. The generation and recovery from exercise fatigue involves alterations in multiple signaling pathways, mainly AMPK, PI3K/Akt, Nrf2/ARE, NF-κB, PINK1/Parkin, and BDNF/TrkB, as well as MAPK signaling pathways that mediate energy supply, reduction of metabolites, oxidative stress homeostasis, muscle fiber type switching, and central protective effects. In recent studies, a rich variety of natural active ingredients have been identified in traditional Chinese medicines and plant extracts with anti-fatigue effects, opening up the field of research in new anti-fatigue drugs. In this review we give an overview of the signaling pathways associated with the activity of natural food active ingredients against exercise fatigue. Such a comprehensive review is necessary to understand the potential of these materials as preventive measures and treatments of exercise fatigue. We expect the findings highlighted and discussed here will help guide the development of new health products and provide a theoretical and scientific basis for future research on exercise fatigue.

Keywords: exercise fatigue; mechanism; natural active ingredients; recover; signaling pathways.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This paper was supported by the Liaoning Provincial Department of Education Fund project LJKZ1050.