The Effect of Three Months of Resistance Training on TCF7L2 Expression in Pancreas Tissues of Type 2 Diabetic Rats

Resistance exercise is recommended as a useful therapeutic tool for the treatment of type 2 diabetes (T2D); however, the frequency of studies is inadequate to establish the precise mechanisms of any association between them.
In this study, we aimed to assess the effect of three months of resistance training on TCF7L2 expression in pancreatic tissues, serum insulin and glucose.
For this purpose, type 2 diabetes (T2D) was induced by intraperitoneal streptozotocin-nicotinamide in eighteen male Wistar rats aged 10 weeks (220 ± 30 g). Then, the rats were randomly divided into exercise and control groups. The exercise rats completed a three-month resistance training intervention that included climbing on a stepladder for 5 days weekly. The control group did not participate in exercise intervention. Fasting glucose and insulin were measured before and after injection (7 days) and after intervention. TCF7L2 gene expression of pancreatic tissues was measured in both groups after the exercise treatment, and the ratio between the two groups was calculated.
Fasting glucose increased and serum insulin decreased significantly by T2D induction in the two groups at baseline. Resistance training resulted in a decrease in fasting glucose and an increase in insulin in exercise rats. Data also showed that TCF7L2 gene expression decreased after resistance training compared with the control group.
Based on these data, increased serum insulin can be attributed to a decrease in TCF7L2 gene expression of pancreatic cells by resistance training in T2D rats.