A model of poorly controlled type 1 diabetes mellitus and its treatment with aerobic exercise training

Abstract Background Modern exogenous insulin therapy can improve the quality of life of Type 1 Diabetic Mellitus (T1DM) patients, although maintenance of normal glycaemic levels is often a challenge given the variety of factors that alter it. A number of studies have examined the effect of exercise in T1DM; however, the majority of experimental studies have utilized diabetic rodents with severe hyperglycaemia. Given that T1DM patients are likely to refrain from hyperglycaemia, studies examining the effects of regular exercise in which blood glucose is poorly controlled would better represent the T1DM population. Methods The current study examined the ability of a ten-week aerobic exercise training program to modify markers of cardiovascular function and bone health in STZ-induced diabetic rodents maintained in the 9–15 mM glycaemic range through insulin therapy. Results Moderate hyperglycaemia, when prolonged, leads to significant changes in cardiac structure, bone health, and glucose handling capacity. Ten weeks of exercise was able to alleviate many of these deleterious events as no significant cardiovascular functional alterations were evident except a reduction in resting heart rate and an increase in stroke volume index. Further, despite changes in cardiac dimensions, exercise was able to elevate cardiac output index and increase the E/A ratio of exercising diabetic animals which would be indicative of improvements of cardiac function. Conclusions Together, this study demonstrates that despite moderate hyperglycaemia, the combined role of a ten-week exercise training program coupled with insulin therapy is able to alleviate many of the well-known complications associated with diabetes progression.