Chronic moderate exercise in mice induces persistent metabolic and epigenetic reprogramming in bone marrow-derived macrophages, leading to reduced LPS-induced NF-κB activation and proinflammatory gene expression while increasing M2-like gene expression and mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation capacity.

Regular moderate exercise changes how immune cells in the bone marrow produce energy, making them rely more on efficient oxygen-based metabolism and less on inefficient sugar-burning. This shift reduces harmful byproducts and opens up specific parts of the cell's DNA that control healing genes, while closing off regions that trigger inflammation. As a result, when these cells later encounter a threat, they respond with less inflammation and more repair activity, and this change lasts even after exercise stops.