PEP-535 : Exercise Biochemistry

Pre-requisites

Purpose

To provide content on the research-based findings of how exercise alters biochemical function in skeletal muscle, the liver and adipose tissue.

Rationale

Application of the knowledge base of exercise physiology requires an understanding of the design of human cellular metabolism, and how metabolic regulation enables cells to tolerate the energy dependent demands of exercise.  For example, during muscle contraction, skeletal muscle cells can increase their demands for cellular energy by more than 500%.  This sudden increase in demand, and the fact that skeletal muscle cells can tolerate this sudden transition in metabolic function, indicates the enormous amount of metabolic regulation that must exist.  As the liver and adipose tissue also support skeletal muscle metabolism, the stress of exercise also influences the metabolic functions of these tissues.

Objectives

To acquire and/or experience,

Alliance With College Mission and Conceptual Framework

There is an increasing need to justify how academic courses "fit" within the theoretical framework of the college they are located within.  Explanations of the College of Education Mission and Conceptual Framework are found within the College section of the UNM website.

This course provides pertinent knowledge that extends the academic training in exercise physiology of the graduate students of UNM.  While primarily serving the needs of Exercise Science students, other students from  the School of Medicine, Nursing, and Biology could also justify the inclusion of this course into their program of studies.

Format

This course is taught by lecture using computerized Powerpoint slide projection.  Lecture/slide notes are found linked to this page, organized by the topics listed on the course calendar.  Lectures are each 120 min in duration, structured as two 50 min sessions separated by 10 min of "break time", finishing with a 10 min question/answer session.

As there is no suitable text, and content is therefore based on classic and recent published research.  Many images concerning background content will be taken from my electronic text in exercise physiology, hence this source is listed as background reading.  Figures from original research and the internet will also be used, and the source of these figures will be noted on each slide.

Key references, grouped by topic, are found linked to the main page of this class site.  Where possible, pertinent readings will be available linked to the website as pdf documents.  Alternatively, copies of important articles will be distributed in class, or available for loan/copying from the EPL.

Textbook and Other Required Items

I have just completed a trial version of my new electronic textbook.  We will use this for the basic biochemistry of metabolic pathways, and I will provide additional reading from published manuscripts to support the exercise-specific metabolic responses.

Robergs RA. Exercise Physiology: An electronic text and learning experience. 2008 NEXSIS.org, Albuquerque. ISBN: 978-0-9814683-0-3; $35.00

If you also want to purchase a great biochemistry textbook, I recommend the latest edition of Albert Lehninger's text.  As the author is now deceased, new editions are co-authored as follows.

Lehninger AL, Nelson DL, Cox MM. Principles of biochemistry. Worth Publishers ISBN 0-87901-500-4 (Note, this ISBN is for the 2nd edition).

If you intend to have a career in academia within exercise physiology, you really should have a great biochemistry reference textbook.

I will also have my additional textbooks available for overnight borrowing. Overnight borrowing requires that the book be returned prior to 9am the next morning.  See Joan Iverson, our lab administrative assistant for these books.

Additional Textbooks

Robergs RA and Roberts SO. Exercise Physiology: Exercise, Performance and Clinical Applications. Mosby, St. Louis, 1997. (note, this book is now published by McGraw-Hill, Dubuque, Iowa)

Robergs RA and Roberts SO. Fundamental Principles of Exercise Physiology: For Fitness, Performance and Health. McGraw-Hill, Dubuque, Iowa, 2000.

Alberts B., D. Bray, J. Lewis, M. Raff, K. Roberts and J.D. Watson. Molecular Biology of the Cell. Garland Publishing, Inc., New York, 1983.

Harold F.M. The Vital Force: A Study of Bioenergetics. W.H. Freeman and Company, New York, 1986.

Lehninger A.L., D.L. Nelson and M.M. Cox. Principles of Biochemistry. 2nd Edition, Worth Publishers, New York, 1993.

Newsholme E.A. and A.R. Leech. Biochemistry for the Medical Sciences. John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1983.

Stryer L.  Biochemistry. 3rd Edition, W.H. Freeman and Company, New York, 1988.

In addition to the required reading, you will need to do the following during your attendance in this class; 

Assessment

Student assessment is based on the scores from,

The point and percentage contribution of each assessment item is summarized in the table below.

Note that the research presentation equals the points from an exam.  Use the link on the top of the page to connect to directions on the Presentation.

Your final grade will simply be based on your percentage score of the 400 total assessment points.  I do not grade on a curve.  You are responsible for learning the material I cover in class, and this content represents the standards required for becoming competent in knowing and understanding environmental exercise physiology.

The grade letter and points distribution is provided in the table below.

Exams

The format of each exam is a combination of multiple choice and short answer questions. Some questions will require calculations, as well as interpretations of figures used in class lectures.  Each exam will require half a class session, and consist of approximately 20-30 multiple choice and 10-15 short answer questions.