Why do papers dealing with exercise feature so prominently in The Journal of Physiology? Perhaps it is simply because exercise requires so many changes to physiology, that it serves, in its various forms – strong, weak, intermittent, continuous, isometric, isotonic or even imaginary – as a means of interrogating how diverse physiological systems operate, both in isolation and together. Indeed, how the cardiovascular system is engaged during exercise, and how it interacts with control of the working muscles, is an important area of research, covering as it does molecular, cellular, systems and integrative physiology. This Special Issue covers many of these aspects, and builds on a symposium organised by Yoshihiro Kubo – Regulation of cardiovascular and skeletal muscle function during exercise – at the Federation of Oceanic and Asian Physiological Societies (FAOPS) congress in Deagu, South Korea, on 1–4 November 2023, and a symposium – Neural control Bartman et al. (2025) elaborate on the elegant experimental design in a Perspectives article. And when it comes to muscle itself, Kaluhiokalani et al. (2024) show that a simple intervention – passive muscle heating – can increase muscle blood flow to a similar extent as seen during exercise, with endothelial nitric oxide synthase also increasing in both conditions. However, passive heat therapy did not improve muscle performance, no doubt because only exercise increases angiogenesis. Another paper considers the role of androgens in determining muscle mass, strength and performance following a 3 month period of resistance training in pre-menopausal females. By studying muscle biopsies, Alexander et al. (2024) show that the proportion of nuclear-localised androgen receptors, rather than resting levels of testosterone itself, largely account for the increases in muscle mass and strength following training in women. A Perspectives article by Hunter (2024) emphasises the roles of androgen receptors in the marked sex differences in human physical performance, and the changes that occur in males during puberty. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article. The author has no competing interests. V.M.: Conception or design of the work; Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; Final approval of the version to be published; Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work. No funding was obtained.
Alexandru Barboi (Tue,) studied this question.