Development of a mouse model to investigate the effect of exertional heat stress on skeletal muscle

Exercise on a motorized wheel in C57BL/6J male mice produces mild whole-body hyperthermia, raising core temperature to 38.5 degree C and increasing muscle injury markers.

• Why it matters: Elevated body temperature during exercise is linked to risk of skeletal muscle injury, but existing murine heat models do not specifically mirror exercise-induced whole-body hyperthermia.
• What they did: Male C57BL/6J mice (n = 6 per group) were assigned to control or exercise; controls stayed ~3 hours at 35 degree C, while exercise ran on a programmed wheel, then gastrocnemius injury and mitochondrial measures were assessed.
• The result: Compared with controls, exercised mice had higher plasma myoglobin and showed impaired muscle and mitochondria, including increased TBARS and caspase-3 and reduced ATP and Complex IV, enabling mechanistic and intervention studies of exertional heat injury.

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