The effect of exercise on the islets of diabetic rats and its mechanism

  Objective: To investigate the effect of aerobic exercise on pancreatic islets and β cells in type 2 diabetic rats and its mechanism.

  Method: 30 Wistar rats, 10 were randomly selected as group C, and the remaining 20 were fed with streptozotocin (STZ) combined with high-fat and high-sugar feed to construct type 2 diabetic rat models, and 15 successful rats were retained. Only divided into two groups, one group is DMC group (n=7); the other group is DME group (n=7, 1 animal died at the end of the experiment). The rats in the DME group exercised on a treadmill at 20 m/min per day for 30 minutes and rested for 1 day every 6 days for a total of 8 weeks. The rest of the rats moved freely in the cage. At the end of the experiment, blood was taken from the abdominal aorta to measure blood glucose and serum Ins content, and HOMA was calculated; the first third of the pancreas was cut into paraffin sections, HE stained, and the islet morphology and β cell structure were observed under a digital microscope and photographed; Under the magnification of the field of view, use the Motic Images Advanced 3.1 image processing software to measure the circumference and area of the pancreatic islets, and then calculate the SF; homogenize the remaining pancreas and measure the Ins content, GK and trace total ATPase activity.

  Results: The perimeter and area of islets in the DME group were significantly increased compared with those in the DMC group (P<0.05), but still lower than those in the C group, and SF was significantly increased; β-cell hypertrophy and vacuole, nucleus pyknosis, etc. Compared with the DMC group, the phenomenon was significantly improved; the blood glucose, Ins content, pancreatic GK and trace total ATPase activities of the DME group were significantly higher than those of the DMC group (P<0.05); SF and HOMA also had significant changes.

  Conclusion: Aerobic exercise can reduce the blood glucose concentration of type 2 diabetic rats, improve the morphology and structure of pancreatic islets and pancreatic β-cells, due to the increase in pancreatic tissue GK, ATP synthase activity and insulin sensitivity.