Fig. 6

A model for increased intestinal permeability after exercise based on coordinated metabolite and gene expression after the endurance competition. Intestinal homeostasis involves the coordinated actions of epithelial, innate and adaptive immune cells. Our data showed an increase in TLR4, which probably stimulated the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as interferon alpha and gamma (IFNα, INFγ), or interleukin (IL) 6 (all of them up-regulated after exercise) and sensed the translocated LPS. We also observed an increase of FoxO3, which regulates IL10 expression during a typical LPS immune response, as well as STAT3, NfkB-RelA, and interferon-gamma receptor (IFNGR-1). This also correlated with the observed increase in blood serum amyloid protein (SAA) in the post- endurance competition samples, an inflammatory marker. The node color indicates whether the node is a gene (orange), or a metabolite (violet). This figure was produced using Servier Medical Art, available from www.servier.com/Powerpoint-image-bank