The Respective Potential of Endurance Training on COUP-TF I and COUP-TF II Gene Expression in the Skeletal Muscle of Rats

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of 6-week endurance training on COUP-TF I and COUP-TF II gene expression of SD rats and GK rats. Method: 20 male SD rats, about 4 weeks old, weighing 100 ± 5 g; 12 GK rats, about 8 weeks old, weighing 250 ± 5 g, SD rats were randomly divided into SD control group (C, n = 10), endurance group (E, n = 10), GK rats were randomly divided into GK control group (H, n = 6), endurance group (R, n = 6). Endurance training in rats for 6 weeks of treadmill training, training six days a week, once a day for a maximum speed of not more than 16.7 m/min, 1 hour a day. Real-time PCR was used to detect the mRNA level of COUP-TF I and COUP-TF II. Western Blotting was used to detect the protein level COUP-TF I. Results: (1) SD rats: endurance training significantly reduced blood glucose but had no apparent effect on IRI; endurance training significantly increased COUP-TF I mRNA level but significantly reduced COUP-TF II mRNA level; endurance exercises had no apparent effect on COUP-TF I protein level (2) GK rats: endurance training significantly reduced blood glucose and IRI; endurance training both significantly reduced the mRNA level of COUP-TF I and COUP-TF II; endurance training significantly reduced COUP-TF I protein level. Conclusion: (1) Endurance training was beneficial to reduce the level of blood glucose in GK rats, which may mitigate IR. (2) The effects of endurance exercise on COUP-TF I gene expression in skeletal muscle are opposite under normal physiological and diabetes, which may be related to the differences of strains, age and diet between GK rats and SD rats. (3) Compared with COUP-TF I, the adaptation of COUP-TF II mRNA level to endurance exercise was exactly the same for GK rats and SD rats, which indicating that the COUP-TF II mRNA level may play an important role in the effect of endurance training that can prevention and improvement of insulin resistance.