Muscle helps clear altered cholesterol carriers in mice
In mouse experiments, total muscle uptake was comparable to the liver’s, and 30 minutes of treadmill exercise increased uptake in leg muscles.
Limit: Uptake in organs was measured only 10 minutes later
Edited by Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
In an experiment in mice, researchers injected radioactively labeled oxidized low-density lipoprotein—chemically altered particles that carry cholesterol. They measured uptake in organs 10 minutes later. Total uptake across skeletal muscle, the muscles used for movement, was comparable to uptake in the liver.
Muscle uptake was nearly abolished in mice lacking CD36, a receptor protein that helps cells take up particles. The researchers also compared exercising mice with sedentary mice. Mice that ran on a treadmill for 30 minutes showed higher uptake of the altered particles in four leg muscles. The findings identified skeletal muscle as a major site for removing these particles from circulation.
Why it matters
Atherosclerosis, the buildup of fatty deposits in arteries, is an age-related disease. The work suggests a possible explanation for some of exercise’s benefits for artery health.
Caveats
The experiments measured short-term particle uptake, not whether exercise reduced artery plaque. The findings came from mice, and the congress abstract gave no sample sizes.
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The paper
Shinshu University School of Medicine
ESC Congress 2026 Abstract, Oct 26, 2026
Presented at ESC Congress 2026
