Enhanced Glucose Metabolism Is Preserved in Cultured Primary Myotubes From Obese Donors in Response to Exercise Training

Context: It was suggested that human cultured primary myotubes retain the metabolic characteristics of their donor in vitro. Objectives: The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the metabolic responses to endurance training are also conserved in culture. Design and Volunteers: Middle-aged obese subjects completed an 8-week supervised aerobic exercise training program in which vastus lateralis muscle biopsies were collected before and after training. Main Outcome Measures: Anthropometric and blood parameters, as well as aerobic capacity, were assessed before and after training. Muscle biopsies were either used for Western blot analysis or digested to harvest myogenic progenitors that were differentiated into myotubes. Glucose oxidation, palmitate oxidation, and glycogen synthesis assays were performed on myotubes before and after training. Gene expression was assessed by real-time quantitative PCR. Results: Our data indicate that in parallel of in vivo improvement of whole-body aerobic capac...