Exercise-induced stress response as an adaptive tolerance strategy.

Interaction between the quality of the environment and the health of the exposed population determines the survival response of living organisms. The phenomenon of induced tolerance by exposure to threshold levels of stressors to stimulate natural defense mechanisms has potential therapeutic value. The paucity of information on predictability of individual response and information on the operative fundamental mechanisms limit applicability of the adaptive tolerance strategy. A potential biomarker of the stress response includes members of the stress-inducible ubiquitin gene family. Transcript sizes detected with Northern blot analysis identify different classes of ubiquitin gene family members and the intensity of the radioactive signal allows abundance determinations. Using moderate exercise as the stressor, significant increase (p < 0.028) in abundance of inducible polyubiquitin genes was found in human blood. Both the potential of exercise as a model system of a natural stress inducer and polyubiquitin as a biomarker of stress were established in these studies.