Background Exhausting exercise reduces the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) content in the skeletal muscle of healthy subjects due to oxidative damage. Since patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) suffer enhanced oxidative stress during exercise, it was hypothesised that the mtDNA content will be further reduced.

Objective To investigate the effects of exercise above and below the lactate threshold (LT) on the mtDNA content of skeletal muscle of patients with COPD.

Methods Eleven patients with COPD (67±8 years; forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV₁) 45±8%ref) and 10 healthy controls (66±4 years; FEV₁ 90±7% ref) cycled 45 min above LT (65% peak oxygen uptake (V′o₂peak) and another 7 patients (65±6 years; FEV₁ 50±4%ref) and 7 controls (56±9 years; FEV₁ 92±6%ref) cycled 45 min below their LT (50% V′o₂peak). Biopsies from the vastus lateralis muscle were obtained before exercise, immediately after and 1 h, 1 day and 1 week later to determine by PCR the mtDNA/nuclear DNA (nDNA) ratio (a marker of mtDNA content) and the expression of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γcoactivator-1α (PGC-1α) mRNA and the amount of reactive oxygen species produced during exercise was estimated from total V′o₂.

Results Skeletal muscle mtDNA/nDNA fell significantly after exercise above the LT both in controls and in patients with COPD, but the changes were greater in those with COPD. These changes correlated with production of reactive oxygen species, increases in manganese superoxide dismutase and PGC-1α mRNA and returned to baseline values 1 week later. This pattern of response was also observed, albeit minimised, in patients exercising below the LT.

Conclusions In patients with COPD, exercise enhances the decrease in mtDNA content of skeletal muscle and the expression of PGC-1α mRNA seen in healthy subjects, probably due to oxidative stress.