Localized Heat Therapy Improves Mitochondrial Respiratory Capacity but Not Fatty Acid Oxidation.
Level 2 - randomized trial
Individual controlled human intervention trial with sham and active comparators
PubMed 35955635 · doi:10.3390/ijms23158500
What was done
Thirty-five subjects were assigned to sham therapy, short-wave diathermy heat therapy, or single-leg interval exercise training applied to the right quadriceps muscle 3 times weekly for 6 weeks. Muscle biopsies were obtained at baseline, 3 weeks, and 6 weeks. Mitochondrial respiratory capacity and fatty acid oxidation were measured in permeabilized muscle fibers via high-resolution respirometry, along with citrate synthase activity.
What was found
Localized heat therapy and exercise training significantly improved mitochondrial respiratory capacity by 24.8 ± 6.2% and 27.9 ± 8.7%, respectively (p < 0.05). Fatty acid oxidation (+29.5 ± 6.8%, p < 0.05) and citrate synthase activity (+19.0 ± 7.4%, p < 0.05) increased following exercise training, but localized heat therapy produced no increase in either measure.
Why it matters
Localized heat therapy mimics the mitochondrial respiratory adaptations of interval training in skeletal muscle, but it does not drive exercise-associated increases in fatty acid oxidation or mitochondrial content.
Limits
The abstract does not state whether allocation was randomized, nor does it report participant demographics (sex, age, health status) or group-specific sample sizes. Functional exercise capacity and whole-body metabolic endpoints were not reported.
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