Fig. 2.

Long-term adaptations to exercise that are potentiated by exercise-induced autophagy. Exercise initiates a cascade of events, which leads to increased oxidative stress, energetic imbalance, increase intracellular calcium, and protein misfolding (28, 115). Oxidative stress (54), energetic imbalance (53), calcium (62, 95), and misfolded proteins (50, 72, 118) can induce autophagy activation. Autophagy then participates in mitochondrial turnover (54, 111), protein turnover (11, 54), metabolic adaptations (10), as well as angiogenesis (52). These adaptations together result in enhanced endurance performance (52), as well as improved glucose and lipid homeostasis (26).