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Exercise alters expression of insulin-related genes in women with PCOS
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Acute exercise appeared to affect the expression of insulin resistance genes in the skeletal muscles of women with polycystic ovary syndrome, according to researchers in Brazil.
“[PCOS] is a female endocrinopathy characterized by menstrual irregularity, hyperandrogenemia and polycystic ovarian morphology, affecting 11% to 18% of women at reproductive age,” Wagner Silva Dantas, of the School of Physical Education and Sport at the University of Sao Paulo, and colleagues wrote. “One of its most important clinical features is insulin resistance, which has been associated with metabolic disturbances and increased risk for type 2 diabetes. … Exercise has been considered the first-choice treatment to offset insulin resistance by enhancing the insulin-mediated molecular pathway and stimulating GLUT4 translocation via insulin-dependent pathways. In PCOS, however, exercise training was unable to resolve insulin resistance.”
Dantas and colleagues assigned four women with PCOS and obesity and four control participants with obesity but not PCOS to a single 40-minute bout of aerobic exercise after an overnight fast. All women were aged 18 to 35 years. The researchers took muscle samples from the vastus lateralis at baseline and 1 hour after exercising, then evaluated the expression of a range of insulin resistance genes.
Researchers identified a “significant upregulation” of six different genes in the PCOS group, including NFKBIA, MAPK3, PPARGC1A and PPARA. In the control group, the researchers reported, 12 genes were upregulated after exercise: LEPR, CXCR4, CCR5, IL18R1, CRLF2, ACACA, CEBPA, PPARGC1A, UCP1, TNFSRF1B, TLR4 and IKBKB. The PCOS group showed upregulation of three genes after exercise: SOCS3, NAMPT and IL8. The IL-6 gene was upregulated in both groups after the exercise session, according to Dantas and colleagues. There were no differences between groups when patients were evaluated by age, BMI, or fat or lean mass (P > .05).
“In this study, we used for the first time a quantitative PCR array system to comprehensively identify changes in insulin resistance-related genes in skeletal muscle of PCOS before and after a single bout of aerobic exercise,” the researchers wrote. “The identification of differentially expressed genes associated with insulin resistance could open avenues for interventions aimed to improve insulin sensitivity in this syndrome.” – by Andy Polhamus
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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