ArticleDiabetology & metabolic syndrome2023
Aerobic exercise and metformin on intermuscular adipose tissue (IMAT): insights from multimodal MRI and histological changes in prediabetic rats.
Article in Diabetology & metabolic syndrome, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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3 citing papers in PubMed, 6 citations in OpenAlex.
- Multiparameter MRI assessment of metformin and exercise effects on skeletal muscle in prediabetes: a randomized controlled trial.European radiology experimental · 2025Trial
- Targeting adipose remodeling: Synergistic mechanisms of drugs and adipose-derived stem cells in obese type 2 diabetes mellitus.World journal of stem cells · 2025Review
- Dual modulation of atherosclerosis by exercise and metformin: convergent pathways, divergent outcomes, and therapeutic potential.Clinical hypertension · 2025Review
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
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Abstract
backgroundPhysical exercise is the first-line intervention for prediabetes, and metformin is the most widely used oral insulin-sensitizing agent. Moreover, intermuscular adipose tissue (IMAT) directly affects insulin resistance by helping maintain glucose homeostasis. Here, we evaluated the effects of moderate aerobic exercise and/or metformin on histological IMAT parameters in non-streptozotocin-induced prediabetes.
methodsMale Wistar rats with prediabetes fed a high-fat diet and high-sugar drinks were randomly assigned to high-fat diet (PRE), metformin (MET), moderate aerobic exercise (EXE), combined therapy (EMC), or EMC + compound-c (EMA) groups for 4 weeks. Multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was then performed, and tissue-specific inflammation and energy and lipid metabolism were evaluated in IMAT.
resultsThe EXE group had lower inflammatory factor levels, lipid metabolism, and mitochondrial oxidative stress, and shorter IMAT adipocyte diameters than the MET group. The MET group exhibited lower IL-1β and Plin5 expression than the PRE group. Furthermore, the IMAT of the EMC group had lower TNF-α and phosphorylated NF-κB levels and higher GLUT1 and GLUT4 expression than the PRE group. Multimodal MRI revealed significant changes in transverse-relaxation time 2, apparent diffusion coefficient, and fractional anisotropy values in the IMAT and muscles, as well as lower IMAT% values in the EXE and EMC groups than in the MET and PRE groups.
conclusionModerate aerobic exercise training can effectively improve IMAT function and structure via the AMP-activated protein kinase pathway in prediabetes. Combining metformin with moderate aerobic exercise might elicit modest synergy, and metformin does not counterbalance the beneficial effects of exercise.
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