Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Article
  • Published:

Time of exercise differentially impacts bone growth in mice

Abstract

Although physical training has been shown to improve bone mass, the time of day to exercise for optimal bone growth remains uncertain. Here we show that engaging in physical activity during the early active phase, as opposed to the subsequent active or rest phase, results in a more substantial increase in bone length of male and female mice. Transcriptomic and metabolomic methodologies identify that exercise during the early active phase significantly upregulates genes associated with bone development and metabolism. Notably, oxidative phosphorylation-related genes show a rhythmic expression in the chondrification centre, with a peak at the early active phase, when more rhythmic genes in bone metabolism are expressed and bone growth is synergistically promoted by affecting oxidative phosphorylation, which is confirmed by subsequent pharmacological investigations. Finally, we construct a signalling network to predict the impact of exercise on bone growth. Collectively, our research sheds light on the intricacies of human exercise physiology, offering valuable implications for interventions.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Exercise during the early active phase can robustly expedite bone growth.
Fig. 2: The transcriptional expression of bone growth-related genes is boosted by exercise in the early active phase.
Fig. 3: Exercise at ZT13 in synergy with intrinsic bone metabolic rhythms activates the expression of bone growth-related genes.
Fig. 4: OXPHOS is markedly activated by exercise during the early active phase.
Fig. 5: Physical activity during the active phase stimulates bone growth through the process of OXPHOS.
Fig. 6: Stimulating OXPHOS pharmacologically during the early active phase enhances bone growth.
Fig. 7: A molecular network that predicts how exercise at different times of the day promotes bone growth.

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

Transcriptome raw data of this study have been deposited in the Genome Sequence Archive53 in the National Genomics Data Center54, China National Center for Bioinformation/Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and will be publicly available under accession code CRA015794 on 08 April 2026. Source data are provided with this paper.

References

  1. Jacobi, L. & Cash, T. F. In pursuit of the perfect appearance: discrepancies among self-ideal percepts of multiple physical attributes. J. Appl. Social Psychol. 24, 379–396 (1994).

  2. McCormack, S. E. et al. Association between linear growth and bone accrual in a diverse cohort of children and adolescents. JAMA Pediatr. 171, e171769 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Alves, J. G. B. & Alves, G. V. Effects of physical activity on children’s growth. J. Pediatr. 95, 72–78 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Karlsson, M. K. & Rosengren, B. E. Exercise and peak bone mass. Curr. Osteoporos. Rep. 18, 285–290 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Bouillon, R. et al. Skeletal and extraskeletal actions of vitamin D: current evidence and outstanding questions. Endocr. Rev. 40, 1109–1151 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Tong, X. et al. The effect of exercise on the prevention of osteoporosis and bone angiogenesis. BioMed. Res. Int. 2019, 8171897 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Gabriel, B. M. & Zierath, J. R. Circadian rhythms and exercise - re-setting the clock in metabolic disease. Nat. Rev. Endocrinol. 15, 197–206 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Arciero, P. J. et al. Morning exercise reduces abdominal fat and blood pressure in women; evening exercise increases muscular performance in women and lowers blood pressure in men. Front. Physiol. 13, 893783 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Casanova-Vallve, N. et al. Daily running enhances molecular and physiological circadian rhythms in skeletal muscle. Mol. Metab. 61, 101504 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Savikj, M. et al. Afternoon exercise is more efficacious than morning exercise at improving blood glucose levels in individuals with type 2 diabetes: a randomised crossover trial. Diabetologia 62, 233–237 (2019).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Schumacher, L. M., Thomas, J. G., Raynor, H. A., Rhodes, R. E. & Bond, D. S. Consistent morning exercise may be beneficial for individuals with obesity. Exerc. Sport Sci. Rev. 48, 201–208 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  12. Kronenberg, H. M. Developmental regulation of the growth plate. Nature 423, 332–336 (2003).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Hollander, J. M. & Zeng, L. The emerging role of glucose metabolism in cartilage development. Curr. Osteoporos. Rep. 17, 59–69 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  14. Stegen, S. et al. HIF-1α metabolically controls collagen synthesis and modification in chondrocytes. Nature 565, 511–515 (2019).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  15. Zheng, L., Zhang, Z., Sheng, P. & Mobasheri, A. The role of metabolism in chondrocyte dysfunction and the progression of osteoarthritis. Ageing Res. Rev. 66, 101249 (2021).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Sato, S. et al. Time of exercise specifies the impact on muscle metabolic pathways and systemic energy homeostasis. Cell Metab. 30, 92–110 (2019).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Fan, W. & Evans, R. M. Exercise mimetics: impact on health and performance. Cell Metab. 25, 242–247 (2017).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Cantó, C. et al. AMPK regulates energy expenditure by modulating NAD+ metabolism and SIRT1 activity. Nature 458, 1056–1060 (2009).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  19. Yu, S. et al. Circadian rhythm modulates endochondral bone formation via MTR1/AMPKβ1/BMAL1 signaling axis. Cell Death Differ. 29, 874–887 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  20. van der Lee, R. et al. Transcriptome analysis of complex I-deficient patients reveals distinct expression programs for subunits and assembly factors of the oxidative phosphorylation system. BMC Genomics 16, 691 (2015).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  21. Troy, K. L., Mancuso, M. E., Butler, T. A. & Johnson, J. E. Exercise early and often: effects of physical activity and exercise on women’s bone health. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 15, 878 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  22. Bass, J. & Takahashi, J. S. Circadian integration of metabolism and energetics. Science 330, 1349–1354 (2010).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  23. Tan, V. P. et al. Influence of physical activity on bone strength in children and adolescents: a systematic review and narrative synthesis. J. Bone Miner. Res. 29, 2161–2181 (2014).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Yu, S. et al. Circadian BMAL1 regulates mandibular condyle development by hedgehog pathway. Cell Prolif. 53, e12727 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Sato, S. et al. Atlas of exercise metabolism reveals time-dependent signatures of metabolic homeostasis. Cell Metab. 34, 329–345 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Schroeder, A. M. et al. Voluntary scheduled exercise alters diurnal rhythms of behaviour, physiology and gene expression in wild-type and vasoactive intestinal peptide-deficient mice. J. Physiol. 590, 6213–6226 (2012).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  27. Qi, Z., Liu, W. & Lu, J. The mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of exercise on bone remodeling: roles of bone-derived cytokines and microRNAs. Prog. Biophys. Mol. Biol. 122, 131–139 (2016).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Herrmann, M. et al. Interactions between muscle and bone-where physics meets biology. Biomolecules 10, 432 (2020).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  29. Kirk, B., Feehan, J., Lombardi, G. & Duque, G. Muscle, bone, and fat crosstalk: the biological role of myokines, osteokines, and adipokines. Curr. Osteoporos. Rep. 18, 388–400 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Deymier, A. C., Deymier, P. A., Latypov, M. & Muralidharan, K. Effect of stress on the dissolution/crystallization of apatite in aqueous solution: a thermochemical equilibrium study. Philos. Trans. A Math. Phys. Eng. Sci. 381, 20220242 (2023).

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Li, X. et al. Stimulation of Piezo1 by mechanical signals promotes bone anabolism. eLife 8, e49631 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  32. Pomerants, T., Tillmann, V., Karelson, K., Jürimäe, J. & Jürimäe, T. Impact of acute exercise on bone turnover and growth hormone/insulin-like growth factor axis in boys. J. Sports Med. Phys. Fit. 48, 266–271 (2008).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Hughes, J. M., Guerriere, K. I., Popp, K. L., Castellani, C. M. & Pasiakos, S. M. Exercise for optimizing bone health after hormone-induced increases in bone stiffness. Front. Endocrinol. 14, 1219454 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Scott, A., Khan, K. M., Duronio, V. & Hart, D. A. Mechanotransduction in human bone: in vitro cellular physiology that underpins bone changes with exercise. Sports Med. 38, 139–160 (2008).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  35. Lee, S. Y., Abel, E. D. & Long, F. Glucose metabolism induced by Bmp signaling is essential for murine skeletal development. Nat. Commun. 9, 4831 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  36. Hollander, J. M. et al. A critical bioenergetic switch is regulated by IGF2 during murine cartilage development. Commun. Biol. 5, 1230 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  37. Rajpurohit, R., Mansfield, K., Ohyama, K., Ewert, D. & Shapiro, I. M. Chondrocyte death is linked to development of a mitochondrial membrane permeability transition in the growth plate. J. Cell. Physiol. 179, 287–296 (1999).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Tourmente, M., Varea-Sánchez, M. & Roldan, E. R. S. Faster and more efficient swimming: energy consumption of murine spermatozoa under sperm competition. Biol. Reprod. 100, 420–428 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Jin, L. et al. FGF21-Sirtuin 3 axis confers the protective effects of exercise against diabetic cardiomyopathy by governing mitochondrial integrity. Circulation 146, 1537–1557 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. Wang, B. et al. The mitochondrial Ahi1/GR participates the regulation on mtDNA copy numbers and brain ATP levels and modulates depressive behaviors in mice. Cell Commun. Signal. 21, 21 (2023).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  41. Li, J., King, N. C. & Sinoway, L. I. Interstitial ATP and norepinephrine concentrations in active muscle. Circulation 111, 2748–2751 (2005).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  42. Hargreaves, M. & Spriet, L. L. Skeletal muscle energy metabolism during exercise. Nat. Metab. 2, 817–828 (2020).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  43. Li, E. et al. BMAL1 regulates mitochondrial fission and mitophagy through mitochondrial protein BNIP3 and is critical in the development of dilated cardiomyopathy. Protein Cell 11, 661–679 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  44. Wan, M. C. et al. Upregulation of mitochondrial dynamics is responsible for osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells cultured on self-mineralized collagen membranes. Acta Biomater. 136, 137–146 (2021).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  45. Wang, J. et al. Disrupting circadian rhythm via the PER1-HK2 axis reverses trastuzumab resistance in gastric cancer. Cancer Res. 82, 1503–1517 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  46. Anderson, G. & Reiter, R. J. Melatonin: roles in influenza, COVID-19, and other viral infections. Rev. Med. Virol. 30, e2109 (2020).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  47. Zilber, S. et al. Mouse femoral intramedullary injection model: technique and microCT scan validation. J. Biomed. Mater. Res. B Appl. Biomater. 84, 286–290 (2008).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  48. Wang, Z. X. et al. Aged bone matrix-derived extracellular vesicles as a messenger for calcification paradox. Nat. Commun. 13, 1453 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  49. Welz, P. S. et al. BMAL1-driven tissue clocks respond independently to light to maintain homeostasis. Cell 177, 1436–1447 (2019).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  50. Kumar, L. & E Futschik, M. Mfuzz: a software package for soft clustering of microarray data. Bioinformation 2, 5–7 (2007).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  51. Stegen, S., Moermans, K., Stockmans, I., Thienpont, B. & Carmeliet, G. The serine synthesis pathway drives osteoclast differentiation through epigenetic regulation of NFATc1 expression. Nat. Metab. 6, 141–152 (2024).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  52. Chen, G. et al. Developmental growth plate cartilage formation suppressed by artificial light at night via inhibiting BMAL1-driven collagen hydroxylation. Cell Death Differ. 30, 1503–1516 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  53. Chen, T. et al. The genome sequence archive family: Toward explosive data growth and diverse data types. Genomics Proteomics Bioinformatics 19, 578–583 (2021).

  54. CNCB-NGDC Members and Partners. Database resources of the National Genomics Data Center, China National Center for Bioinformation in 2024. Nucleic Acids Res. 52, D18–D32 (2024).

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U23A20443, 31725011 and 82030070 to L.C. and 82100960 to S.Y.) and the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2021YFC2400404 to L.C.).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

Concept and design, S.Y. and L.C.; experimentation, S.Y., X.L., G.C., J.Y. and W.Z.; acquisition, analysis or interpretation of data, S.Y., Q.T., X.L., G.C., M.X., J.Y., Y.Y., W.Z., J.W. and L.Z.; drafting of the manuscript, S.Y. and Q.T.; critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content, L.C., L.Z. and Y.H.; supervision, L.C.; funding acquisition, L.C. and S.Y. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lili Chen.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Peer review

Peer review information

Nature Metabolism thanks the anonymous reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Primary Handling Editor: Ashley Castellanos-Jankiewicz, in collaboration with the Nature Metabolism team.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Extended data

Extended Data Fig. 1 Exercise during the Early Active Phase Can Robustly Expedite Bone Growth.

a, b, Food intake (a) and body weight (b) of sedentary (Sed) and exercise (Exe) mice (n = 12, Sed, Exe at ZT1, ZT5, and ZT 13 mice; n = 8, Exe at ZT9 mice; n = 11, Exe at ZT17 mice; n = 10, Exe at ZT21 mice; Data were presented as mean ± SD and analyzed using one-way ANOVA with Tukey multiple comparisons test). c, Images of calcein double labeling of the femoral diaphyseal cortical bones of Sed and Exe mice. Scale bar, 100 μm. d, e, Quantification of mineralization apposition rate (MAR) and bone formation rate (BFR) of the femoral metaphyseal cortical bones (n = 3 biologically independent experiments, Data were presented as mean ± SD and analyzed using one-way ANOVA with Tukey multiple comparisons test).

Source data

Extended Data Fig. 2 Exercise during the Early Active Phase Can Robustly Expedite Bone Growth in Female mice.

a, Scheme of exercise applied in this study. The female mice were subjected to treadmill running following a 5-day per week acclimatization protocol at ZT1, ZT5, ZT9, ZT13, ZT17, and ZT21, respectively. b, Three-dimensional visualization of femora from micro-CT images of sedentary and exercise mice at ZT1, ZT5, ZT9, ZT13, ZT17, and ZT21. The red boxes indicate the levels of cartilaginous osteogenesis tissues. c, Micro-CT analysis of the total length, bone volume / total volume (BV/TV), and trabecular thickness (Tb.Th) of femora (n = 5). d, Representative images of S-O staining of the distal femora in sedentary and exercise mice. Scale bar, 50 μm. eh, The height of proliferation zone (PZ), hypertrophic zone (HZ), and chondrocyte number per column in the PZ and HZ of growth plate cartilages (n = 3 biologically independent experiments). i, j, EdU staining analysis of proliferating cells in PZ from the growth plate cartilages. Arrowheads indicate EdU+ cells (n = 3). Scale bar, 50 μm. It is the growth plate cartilages between the white lines. k, Images of calcein double labeling of the femoral metaphyseal cancellous bones of sedentary and exercise mice. Scale bar, 100 μm. l, Quantification of mineralization apposition rate (MAR) of the femoral metaphyseal cancellous bones (n = 3 biologically independent experiments). The white line is the calcein deposit of the first injection, and the red line is the second injection. c, e-h, j, l, Data were presented as mean ± SD and analyzed using one-way ANOVA with the Tukey multiple comparisons test.

Source data

Extended Data Fig. 3 Exercise at ZT13 in Synergy with Intrinsic Bone Metabolic Rhythms Activates the Expression of Bone Growth-Related Genes.

a, Heatmaps displaying rhythmic transcripts before and after exercise during the rest phase (ZT1, ZT5) or active phase (ZT13, ZT17, ZT21). b, GO analysis of rhythmic transcripts both in Sed and Exe. Numbers within the charts indicate number of transcripts identified within each biological pathway. c, Heatmaps displaying rhythmic transcripts before and after exercise in bone development (left), metabolic process (middle) and glucose metabolic process (right) after exercise during the early active phase (ZT13).

Extended Data Fig. 4 Exercise at ZT13 Enhances the Association between OXPHOS and Bone Growth.

a, KEGG analysis of the top 30 pathways after exercise at the early active phase. b, The network of the DEGs among top enriched pathway. c, d, Radar plots representing the DEGs related to glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation after exercise at the early rest phase (c) and early active phase (d). e, f, Sankey diagram for glycolysis (e) and oxidative phosphorylation (f)- ossification interaction after exercise at the active phase (ZT13, ZT17, ZT21) and early rest phase (ZT1).

Source data

Extended Data Fig. 5 Oxidative Phosphorylation Is Markedly Activated by Exercise during the Early Active Phase.

a, b, Heatmap of representational DEGs related to oxidative phosphorylation (a) and glycolysis (b). c, d, qRT-PCR analysis of the mRNA levels of Atp6v0c1, Cox11, Ndufv3, Ldha, Pfkp, and Adh7 at indicated time. Differential rhythmicity analysis performed with the 1-component cosinor analysis. The false discovery rate (FDR) method was applied for adjustment, adjusted P values correspond to the statistical significance of amplitude changes in Exe versus Sed mice at the early rest and active phase (n = 4 biologically independent experiments, Data were presented as mean ± SD). e, f, Western blot analysis of the levels of ATP6V0D1 and PFKP in the femoral metaphysis tissue from Sed and Exe mice during the early rest versus active phase (n = 3 biologically independent experiments, Data were presented as mean ± SD and analyzed using two-way ANOVA with Tukey multiple comparisons test). g, Immunofluorescence of PFKP in the growth plate cartilages after exercise during the early rest versus active phase. Scale bar, 50 μm. One technical replicate of three biological replicates for each group.

Source data

Extended Data Fig. 6 Physical Activity during the Active Phase Stimulates Bone Growth through the Process of Oxidative Phosphorylation.

a, The schematic shows mice injected with oxidative phosphorylation inhibitor (oligomycinA, Selleckchem, 15 mg/kg/d, intraperitoneal injection) or equal solvent 60 minutes before exercise. b, Representative images of micro-CT reconstruction of femora from Sed and Exe mice with or without oxidative phosphorylation inhibitor injection. c, Micro-CT analysis of the total femora length, BV/TV, Tb.Th, and Tb.N of Sed and Exe mice injected oxidative phosphorylation inhibitor or equal solvent (n = 5 biologically independent experiments). d, e, Representative images of S-O staining of the distal femora in Sed and Exe mice injected with oxidative phosphorylation inhibitor or equal solvent (n = 3 biologically independent experiments). Scale bar, 50 μm. f, g, EdU staining of proliferating cells in PZ from the growth plate cartilages in Sed and Exe mice injected oxidative phosphorylation inhibitor or equal solvent. Arrowheads indicate EdU+ cells (n = 3 biologically independent experiments). Scale bar, 50 μm. c, e, g, Data were presented as mean ± SD and analyzed using two-way ANOVA with the Tukey multiple comparisons test.

Source data

Extended Data Fig. 7 Physical Activity during the Active Phase Stimulates Bone Growth through the Process of Oxidative Phosphorylation.

a, Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production of femur in Sed and Exe mice intraperitoneally injected oxidative phosphorylation inhibitor or equal solvent (n = 3 biologically independent experiments). b, The content of NAD+ and NADH, and the ratio of NAD + / NADH of femur in Sed and Exe mice injected oxidative phosphorylation inhibitor or equal solvent (n = 3 biologically independent experiments). c, d, Western blot analysis of the levels of ATP6V0D1, Cyclin D2, SOX9 and COL2α1 in the femoral metaphysis tissue from Sed and Exe mice injected oxidative phosphorylation inhibitor (oligomycin A) or equal solvent during the early rest versus active phase (n = 3 biologically independent experiments). e, f, Immunofluorescence of COL2α1 and ACAN in the growth plate cartilages after exercise during the early rest versus active phase with or without oxidative phosphorylation inhibitor injection. Scale bars, 50 μm. One technical replicate of three biological replicates for each group. a, b, d, Data were presented as mean ± SD and analyzed using two-way ANOVA with Tukey multiple comparisons test.

Source data

Extended Data Fig. 8 Stimulating Oxidative Phosphorylation Pharmacologically during the Early Active Phase Enhances Bone Growth.

a, ATP production of femur in Sed and Exe mice intraperitoneally injected oxidative phosphorylation activator or equal solvent (n = 3 biologically independent experiments). b, The content of NAD+ and NADH, and the ratio of NAD + / NADH of femur in Sed and Exe mice intraperitoneally injected oxidative phosphorylation activator or equal solvent (n = 3 biologically independent experiments). c, d, Western blot analysis of the levels of AMPKα1/α2, p-AMPKα1/α2, ATP6V0D1, COX IV, Cyclin D2, COL2α1 and ACAN in the femoral metaphysis tissue from Sed and Exe mice intraperitoneally injected oxidative phosphorylation activator or equal solvent (n = 6 biologically independent experiments). a, b, d, Data were presented as mean ± SD and analyzed using two-way ANOVA with Tukey multiple comparisons test.

Source data

Extended Data Fig. 9 Stimulating Oxidative Phosphorylation Pharmacologically during the Early Active Phase Enhances Bone Growth.

a, ATP production of femur in Sed and Exe mice intramedullary injected oxidative phosphorylation activator or equal solvent (n = 3 biologically independent experiments). b, The content of NAD+ and NADH, and the ratio of NAD + / NADH of femur in Sed and Exe mice intramedullary injected oxidative phosphorylation activator or equal solvent (n = 3 biologically independent experiments). c, d, Western blot analysis of the levels of AMPKα1/α2, p-AMPKα1/α2, ATP6V0D1, COX IV, Cyclin D2, COL2α1 and ACAN in the femoral metaphysis tissue from Sed and Exe mice intramedullary injected oxidative phosphorylation activator or equal solvent (n = 3 biologically independent experiments). a, b, d, Data were presented as mean ± SD and analyzed using two-way ANOVA with Tukey multiple comparisons test.

Source data

Extended Data Fig. 10 Stimulating Oxidative Phosphorylation Pharmacologically during the Early Active Phase Enhances Bone Growth.

a, Representative images of micro-CT reconstruction of femora from Sed and Exe mice with or without oxidative phosphorylation activator injection (AICAR, Selleckchem, 50 mg/kg/d, a total of 28 days, intramedullary injection). b, Micro-CT analysis of the total femora length, BV/TV, Tb.Th, and Tb.N of Sed and Exe mice intramedullary injected oxidative phosphorylation activator or equal solvent (n = 5 biologically independent experiments). c, d, Representative images of S-O staining of the distal femora in Sed and Exe mice intramedullary injected with oxidative phosphorylation activator or equal solvent (n = 3 biologically independent experiments). Scale bar, 50 μm. e, f, EdU staining of proliferating cells in PZ from the growth plate cartilages in Sed and Exe mice intramedullary injected oxidative phosphorylation activator or equal solvent. Arrowheads indicate EdU+ cells (n = 3 biologically independent experiments). Scale bar, 50 μm. g, h, Immunofluorescence of COL2α1 and ACAN in the growth plate cartilages after exercise at the early rest versus active phase with or without oxidative phosphorylation activator intramedullary injection. Scale bars, 50 μm. b, d, f, Data were presented as mean ± SD and analyzed using two-way ANOVA with the Tukey multiple comparisons test.

Source data

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–3 and Supplementary Tables 1–3.

Reporting Summary

Supplementary Data 1

Statistical source data Supplementary Fig. 2.

Supplementary Data 2

Unprocessed western blots Supplementary Fig. 2.

Supplementary Data 3

Statistical source data Supplementary Fig. 3.

Source data

Source Data Fig. 1

Statistical source data.

Source Data Fig. 2

Statistical source data.

Source Data Fig. 2

Unprocessed western blots.

Source Data Fig. 3

Statistical source data.

Source Data Fig. 4

Statistical source data.

Source Data Fig. 5

Statistical source data.

Source Data Fig. 6

Statistical source data.

Source Data Extended Data Fig. 1

Statistical source data.

Source Data Extended Data Fig. 2

Statistical source data.

Source Data Extended Data Fig. 4

Statistical source data.

Source Data Extended Data Fig. 5

Statistical source data.

Source Data Extended Data Fig. 5

Unprocessed western blots.

Source Data Extended Data Fig. 6

Statistical source data.

Source Data Extended Data Fig. 7

Statistical source data.

Source Data Extended Data Fig. 7

Unprocessed western blots.

Source Data Extended Data Fig. 8

Statistical source data.

Source Data Extended Data Fig. 8

Unprocessed western blots.

Source Data Extended Data Fig. 9

Statistical source data.

Source Data Extended Data Fig. 9

Unprocessed western blots.

Source Data Extended Data Fig. 10

Statistical source data.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Yu, S., Tang, Q., Lu, X. et al. Time of exercise differentially impacts bone growth in mice. Nat Metab 6, 1036–1052 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-024-01057-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-024-01057-0

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing