Early-life exercise effects on Achilles tendon in mice selectively bred for high voluntary wheel-running behavior.

ABSTRACT: Exercise increases muscle and bone strength and mass, but effects on tendons are less documented. We investigated the impact of voluntary exercise (wheel running) during early-life exercise (weanling; 3 weeks old) compared to post-skeletal maturity (young adult; 9 weeks old) on tendon morphology and material properties. We utilized a selectively bred High Runner (HR, N = 40) mouse line and a control line (N = 40). Mice underwent 8 weeks in cages either with or without wheels. HR mice ran ~3-fold more and were smaller than controls, but exercise reduced body mass in both lines. Tendon cross-sectional area was unaffected, but tendon length showed a line*exercise interaction (p = 0.0410) and a near-significant line*age interaction (p = 0.0866). HR mice broadly had greater yield stress (p = 0.

SUBMITTER: Valencia M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12361812 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature