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Effects of high-intensity interval training on adipose tissue lipolysis, inflammation, and metabolomics in aged rats

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Abstract

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is a time-efficient alternative to moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT) to improve metabolic health in older individuals. However, differences in adipose tissue metabolism between these two approaches are unclear. Here, we evaluated the effects of HIIT and MICT on metabolic phenotypes in aged rats. HIIT significantly decreased fat mass, increased percent lean mass, decreased fat-to-lean ratio, reduced serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, increased serum interleukin-10 levels, and decreased perirenal adipose tissue leptin compared with rats in the sedentary (SED) group. HIIT also increased pregnenolone, cortisol, and corticosterone in both adipose tissue and serum. Both exercise modalities enhanced hormone-sensitive lipase and adipose triglyceride lipase expression compared with the SED group and decreased palmitic acid, stearic acid, octadecadienoic acid, urea, 1-heptadecanol, and α-tocopherol. MICT was related to glycerolipid metabolism, whereas HIIT was related to steroid hormone biosynthesis. Overall, HIIT showed more favorable regulation of anti-inflammatory activity than MICT.

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Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 31500961 and 31971099), Guangdong Scientific Project (grant nos. 2014A020220015 and 2015A020219015), the Natural Science Fund for Colleges and Universities of Jiangsu Province (grant no. 18KJB180011), Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD), and the Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (grant no. KYCX19_0774).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Sport Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, No. 1 Wenyuan Road Qixia District, Nanjing, 210046, People’s Republic of China

    Lei Sun, Fang-Hui Li, Zhu Min, Hao-En Gao, Da-Shuai Wu & Tian Xie

  2. Laboratory of Laser Sports Medicine, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China

    Tao Li & Luo-Dan Yang

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  1. Lei Sun
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  2. Fang-Hui Li
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  3. Tao Li
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  4. Zhu Min
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Contributions

L.F.H., S.L., and L.T. designed the study. L.F.H., S.L., L.T., M.Z., Y.L.D., G.H.E., W.D.S., and X.T. collected the data and carried out data analyses. L.F.H. and S.L. prepared the figures and produced the initial draft of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final submitted manuscript.

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Correspondence to Fang-Hui Li.

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All experiments were approved by the Ethics Committee on Animal Experimentation of the Guangdong Medical Laboratory Animal Center and followed the Guidelines for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. Experiments were approved by the Animal Experiment Ethical Inspection Form of Nanjing Normal University (IACUU-1903006).

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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This article is part of the special issue on Exercise Physiology: future opportunities and challenges in Pflügers Archiv—European Journal of Physiology

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Sun, L., Li, FH., Li, T. et al. Effects of high-intensity interval training on adipose tissue lipolysis, inflammation, and metabolomics in aged rats. Pflugers Arch - Eur J Physiol 472, 245–258 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00424-020-02351-y

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