The effects of exercise training versus intensive insulin treatment on skeletal muscle fibre content in type 1 diabetes mellitus rodents

BACKGROUND: Intensive-insulin treatment (IIT) strategy for patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) has been associated with sedentary behaviour and the development of insulin resistance. Exercising patients with T1DM often utilize a conventional insulin treatment (CIT) strategy leading to increased insulin sensitivity through improved intramyocellular lipid (IMCL) content. It is unclear how these exercise-related metabolic adaptations in response to exercise training relate to individual fibre-type transitions, and whether these alterations are evident between different insulin strategies (CIT vs. IIT). Purpose: This study examined glycogen and fat content in skeletal muscle fibres of diabetic rats following exercise-training. METHODS: Male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into four groups: Control-Sedentary, CIT- and IIT-treated diabetic sedentary, and CIT-exercised trained (aerobic/resistance; DARE). After 12 weeks, muscle-fibre lipids and glycogen were compared through immunohistochemical analysis. RESULTS: The primary findings were that both IIT and DARE led to significant increases in type I fibres when compared to CIT, while DARE led to significantly increased lipid content in type I fibres compared to IIT. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that alterations in lipid content with insulin treatment and DARE are primarily evident in type I fibres, suggesting that muscle lipotoxicity in type 1 diabetes is muscle fibre-type dependant. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12944-021-01494-w.