Key result
Pregnancy and exercise induce physiological cardiac growth through distinct metabolic mechanisms that both require reductions in cardiac glucose oxidation to promote anabolism.
Why the study?
It remains unclear how metabolic changes facilitate physiological cardiac growth and whether these processes are similar in both pregnancy- and exercise-induced cardiac growth.
Understanding the metabolic underpinnings of physiological cardiac growth in pregnancy and exercise could provide insight to optimize cardiovascular health and prevent deleterious remodeling such as postpartum cardiomyopathy.
Metabolic mechanisms of physiological cardiac growth in pregnancy and exercise remain unclear; leaves open whether shared pathways exist to guide peripartum recommendations.
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Pregnancy and exercise are systemic stressors that promote physiological growth of the heart in response to repetitive volume overload and maintenance of cardiac output. This type of remodeling is distinct from pathological hypertrophy and involves different metabolic mechanisms that facilitate growth; however, it remains unclear how metabolic changes in the heart facilitate growth and if these processes are similar in both pregnancy- and exercise-induced cardiac growth. RECENT FINDINGS: The ability of the heart to metabolize a myriad of substrates balances cardiac demands for energy provision and anabolism. During pregnancy, coordination of hormonal status with cardiac reductions in glucose oxidation appears important for physiological growth. During exercise, a reduction in cardiac glucose oxidation also appears important for physiological growth, which could facilitate shuttling of glucose-derived carbons into biosynthetic pathways for growth. Understanding the metabolic underpinnings of physiological cardiac growth could provide insight to optimize cardiovascular health and prevent deleterious remodeling, such as that which occurs from postpartum cardiomyopathy and heart failure. This short review highlights the metabolic mechanisms known to facilitate pregnancy-induced and exercise-induced cardiac growth, both of which require changes in cardiac glucose metabolism for the promotion of growth. In addition, we mention important similarities and differences of physiological cardiac growth in these models as well as discuss current limitations in our understanding of metabolic changes that facilitate growth.
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Schulman-Geltzer et al. (2023) conducted a review in Physiological cardiac growth. Pregnancy and exercise was evaluated. Pregnancy and exercise induce physiological cardiac growth through distinct metabolic mechanisms that both require reductions in cardiac glucose oxidation to promote anabolism.
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