High, but not low exercise volume, shifts the balance of renin angiotensin system towards ACE2/Mas receptor axis in skeletal muscle in obese rats
AJP Endocrinology and Metabolism
Published online on August 29, 2017
Abstract
Metabolic Syndrome (MS) is a cluster of metabolic risk factors which is linked to central obesity, elevated blood pressure, insulin resistance (IR) and dyslipidemia, where the rennin-angiotensin system (RAS) may provide a link among them. This study aimed to evaluate volume exercise effects comparing low versus high volume of chronic aerobic exercise on RAS axes in skeletal muscle in a diet-induced obesity (DIO) rat model. For this, male Wistar-Kyoto rats were fed a standard chow diet (SC) or a high-fat diet (HF) for 32 weeks. Animals receiving the HF diet were randomly divided into low exercise volume (LEV, 150 min.week-1) and high exercise volume (HEV, 300 min.week-1) at the 20th week. After 12 weeks of aerobic treadmill training the body mass and composition, blood pressure, glucose and lipid metabolism, RAS axes, insulin signaling and inflammatory pathway were performed. HEV slowed the body mass gain, reduced intra-abdominal fat pad and leptin levels, improved total and peripheral body composition and inflammatory cytokine, reduced AT1R expression and increased Mas receptor protein expression compared with the HF animals. Sedentary groups (SC and HF) presented lower time to exhaustion and maximal velocity compared with the LEV and HEV groups. The both exercise training groups showed reduced resting systolic blood pressure and heart rate, improved glucose tolerance, IR, insulin signaling and lipid profile. We conclude that the HEV, but not LEV, shifted the balance of RAS towards the ACE2/Mas receptor axis in skeletal muscle, presenting protective effects against DIO model.