Whole Body Vibration Improves Brain and Musculoskeletal Health by Modulating the Expression of Tissue-Specific Markers: FNDC5 as a Key Regulator of Vibration Adaptations

Author: Ida Cariati1, Roberto Bonanni1, Gabriele Pallone2, Cristian Romagnoli3, Anna Maria Rinaldi2, Giuseppe Annino2,4, Giovanna D'Arcangelo2,4, Virginia Tancredi2,4
Affiliation: <sup>1</sup> Department of Clinical Sciences and Translational Medicine, &quot;Tor Vergata&quot; University of Rome, Via Montpellier 1, 00133 Rome, Italy. <sup>2</sup> Department of Systems Medicine, &quot;Tor Vergata&quot; University of Rome, Via Montpellier 1, 00133 Rome, Italy. <sup>3</sup> Department of Industrial Engineering, &quot;Tor Vergata&quot; University of Rome, Via Montpellier 1, 00133 Rome, Italy. <sup>4</sup> Centre of Space Bio-Medicine, &quot;Tor Vergata&quot; University of Rome, Via Montpellier 1, 00133 Rome, Italy.
Conference/Journal: Int J Mol Sci
Date published: 2022 Sep 8
Other: Volume ID: 23 , Issue ID: 18 , Pages: 10388 , Special Notes: doi: 10.3390/ijms231810388. , Word Count: 255


Whole body vibration (WBV) is well known to exert beneficial effects on multiple tissues, improving synaptic transmission, muscle mass, bone quality, and reducing anxiety and depressive behavior. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms are not yet fully understood, and organs and tissues may respond differently to the vibratory stimulus depending on multiple factors. Therefore, we investigated the WBV effects on the brain and musculoskeletal tissue of 4-month-old young mice, evaluating synaptic plasticity by electrophysiological recordings and tissue organization by histology and histomorphometric analysis. Specifically, WBV protocols were characterized by the same vibration frequency (45 Hz), but different in vibration exposure time (five series of 3 min for the B protocol and three series of 2 min and 30 s for the C protocol) and recovery time between two vibration sessions (1 min for the B protocol and 2 min and 30 s for the C protocol). In addition, immunohistochemistry was conducted to evaluate the expression of fibronectin type III domain-containing protein 5 (FNDC5), as well as that of tissue-specific markers, such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in brain, myostatin in muscle and collagen I (COL-1) in bone. Our results suggest that the WBV effects depend closely on the type of protocol used and support the hypothesis that different organs or tissues have different susceptibility to vibration. Further studies will be needed to deepen our knowledge of physiological adaptations to vibration and develop customized WBV protocols to improve and preserve cognitive and motor functions.

Keywords: BDNF; COL-1; FNDC5; cerebellum; hippocampus; musculoskeletal system; myostatin; synaptic plasticity; vibratory training; whole body vibration.

PMID: 36142305 PMCID: PMC9498983 DOI: 10.3390/ijms231810388