The effect of pueraria lobata/rehmannia glutinosa and exercise on fatty acid transporters expression in ovariectomized rats skeletal muscles

[PURPOSE]: Pueraria lobata/rehmannia glutinosa (PR) and exercise have been receiving a lot of attention from postmenopausal women, as a result of the side effects of estrogen replacement therapy. However, the effects of PR and exercise on fatty acid transporters (FATPs), which play essential role in fatty acid transport, have not been studied. In this study, we evaluated the effects of PR and aerobic exercise on FATP1, FABPpm and FAT/CD36 expression in ovariectomized rat skeletal muscles. [METHODS]: Sixty rats were randomly divided into 6 groups: (1)HSV; high fat diet (HFD)+sedentary+vehicle, (2)HSP; HFD+sedentary+PR, (3)HSH; HFD+sedentary+17β-estradiol, (4)HEV; HFD+exercise+vehicle, (5) HEP; HFD+exercise+PR, (6)HEH; HFD+exercise+17β-estradiol. Exercise consisted of treadmill exercise (1-4th week: 15 m/min for 30 min, 5-8th week: 18 m/min for 40 min, 5 times/week). [RESULTS]: Exercise does not alter FATP1 and FAT/CD36 gene levels in soleus and plantaris muscles. In contrast, exercise had main effect on up-regulation of FABPpm mRNA expression in both muscles. However, FABPpm level was not increased by exercise combined with treatments, indicative of no additive effects of PR or hormone on FABPpm gene expression. On the other hand, immunohistochemistry result showed that translocation of FATPs proteins to plasma membrane were higher in PR, exercise groups, and exercise combined with PR groups in both muscles. [CONCLUSION]: These result showed that aerobic exercise and PR may help increase fat-oxidation through the induction of FABPpm, a muscle specific transporter, in OVX rat skeletal muscles. In addition, FABPpm expression is possibly regulated post-transcriptionally in exercise, or pre-translationally in PR.