Exercise increases mitochondrial glutamate oxidation in the mouse cerebral cortex

The present study investigated the impact of acute exercise on stimulating mitochondrial respiratory function in mouse cerebral cortex. Where pyruvate-stimulated respiration was not affected by acute exercise, glutamate respiration was enhanced following the exercise bout. Additional assessment revealed that this affect was dependent on the presence of malate and did not occur when substituting glutamine for glutamate. As such, our results suggest that glutamate oxidation is enhanced with acute exercise through activation of the malate-aspartate shuttle.