Exercise, oxidants, and antioxidants change the shape of the bell-shaped hormesis curve

Abstract

It is debated whether exercise-induced ROS production is obligatory to cause adaptive response. It is also claimed that antioxidant treatment could eliminate the adaptive response, which appears to be systemic and reportedly reduces the incidence of a wide range of diseases. Here we suggest that if the antioxidant treatment occurs before the physiological function-ROS dose-response curve reaches peak level, the antioxidants can attenuate function. On the other hand, if the antioxidant treatment takes place after the summit of the bell-shaped dose response curve, antioxidant treatment would have beneficial effects on function. We suggest that the effects of antioxidant treatment are dependent on the intensity of exercise, since the adaptive response, which is multi pathway dependent, is strongly influenced by exercise intensity. It is further suggested that levels of ROS concentration are associated with peak physiological function and can be extended by physical fitness level and this could be the basis for exercise pre-conditioning. Physical inactivity, aging or pathological disorders increase the sensitivity to oxidative stress by altering the bell-shaped dose response curve.

Hypertension and diabetes mellitus association to oxidative stress in an elderly population

“…It has been suggested that physiological changes, including the increment of oxidative stress caused by DM and other chronic diseases, originate a phenomenon known as hormesis 22 . Hormesis is the process by which biological systems react to the exposition of chemicals, toxins, radiation and reactive oxygen species when these are modulated by aging and is reflected by a greater adaptation capacity and a better tolerance to stressing factors 23 . This could be the case for DM and the increase in blood glucose that in turn favours an increase in oxidative stress.…”

Reactive Carbonyls Induce TOR- and Carbohydrate-Dependent Hormetic Response in Yeast

“…Showing anticancer, antimicrobial, and antiviral activities, certain RCS are suggested to be promising as potential therapeutic agents [8,9]. Increasing evidence indicates that different reactive species (e.g., oxygen-, nitrogen-, and sulfur-containing molecules) trigger hormetic response [10,11]; however, possible involvement of RCS has not been intensively investigated. It is clear from many studies that RCS can modulate cell signaling pathways, including the stress responses, proapoptotic processes, enzyme activities, and transcription factor functions in different experimental models [9,[12][13][14][15].…”

A web-based tool for designing experimental studies to detect hormesis and estimate the threshold dose

“…For hormesis to exist, there is conceptually an assumed threshold and the question becomes whether such a threshold exists in the assumed model that matches reality (Cox, 1987; Slob, 1999). Such an issue was discussed as early as 1971 in Hatch (1971) and continues to today in disciplines such as aging, biology, crop growth, environmental science, food chemistry, material science, medicine, pharmaceutical sciences, radiation physics, technology; some recent examples include Vaiserman (2011); Radak et al (2017); Zou et al (2017); Sthijns et al (2017); Abbas et al (2017); Roullier-Gall et al (2016); Ji et al (2016).…”

“…As the dose increases, the shapes of the mean toxicological response can vary from J-shaped to inverted U-shaped with different threshold models (Goetghebeur and Pocock, 1995; Hunt and Rai, 2005; Ulm, 1991). There is also recent research that suggests exercise, oxidants and antioxidants may change the shape of a belled shape hormetic response curve (Radak et al , 2017). …”