Exercise increases utilization of lipids and carbohydrates in skeletal muscles. After exercise, replenishment of glycogen and triglyceride occurs in skeletal muscles. To elucidate the mechanism of lipid filling effect after exercise training, expression patterns of genes related to triglyceride synthesis were examined under several exercise conditions, Mice exercised by 2-week swimming had 1.4-2.0-fold increases of sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1 (SREBP-1) mRNA in skeletal muscles after the last swimming, with increases of lipogenic genes, such as acetyl-CoA carboxylase-1 (ACC-1), stearoyl-CoA desaturase-1 (SCD-1), and acyl CoA:diacylglycerol acyltransferase-1 (DGAT-1) mRNAs. An increase of SREBP-1 mRNA was observed after the 6-h treadmill running training but not after I-h single treadmill running. Increase of SREBP-1 mRNA was due to the increase of SREBP-1c isoform but not of SREBP-la, These data indicate that SREBP-1c, a key transcription factor of liver triglyceride synthesis, might also be responsible for skeletal muscle triglyceride synthesis after chronic exercise training, (C) 2002 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.