Abstract:
Endurance exercise is an effective therapeutic inter-
vention with substantial pro-healthspan effects. Male
Drosophila respond to a ramped daily program of
exercise by inducing conserved physiological re-
sponses similar to those seen in mice and humans.
Female flies respond to an exercise stimulus but
do not experience the adaptive training response
seen in males. Here, we use female flies as a
model to demonstrate that differences in exercise
response are mediated by differences in neuronal ac-
tivity. The activity of octopaminergic neurons is spe-
cifically required to induce the conserved cellular and
physiological changes seen following endurance
training. Furthermore, either intermittent, scheduled
activation of octopaminergic neurons or octopamine
feeding is able to fully substitute for exercise, confer-
ring a suite of pro-healthspan benefits to sedentary
Drosophila. These experiments indicate that octop-
amine is a critical mediator of adaptation to endur-
ance exercise in Drosophila.
