Impact of Prolonged Low-Grade Physical Training on the in vivo Glucocorticoid Sensitivity and on Glucocorticoid Receptor-α mRNA Levels of Obese Adolescents

Background/Aim: Healthy individuals present variable responses of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis induced by different patterns of physical training. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether prolonged low-grade physical training influences the HPA axis and also glucocorticoid receptor-α (GRα) mRNA levels in mononuclear cells of obese adolescents. Methods: We studied 19 patients with BMI above the 95th percentile (male:female ratio 7:12) aged from 9.5 to 15.5 years. Patients underwent a 12-week physical exercise program. Before and after exercise, in vivo glucocorticoid sensitivity was determined by employing a very-low-dose intravenous dexamethasone suppression test, and in vitro GRα mRNA levels were evaluated by quantitative real-time PCR. Results: After exercise there was a trend to reduce the in vivo glucocorticoid sensitivity (p = 0.071) and a significant increase in GRα mRNA levels (p = 0.025). Conclusion: For this subset of obese adolescents, prolonged low-grade physical training tended to reduce glucocorticoid sensitivity. The discrepancy of cortisol response to dexamethasone and the GRα mRNA measurement suggest a post-receptor phenomenon or should be related to target tissue-specific differences in glucocorticoid sensitivity. Future studies should address the adaptive GRα mRNA during different exercise protocols, and also the correlation of pituitary sensitivity with glucocorticoid target tissue sensitivity.