Physical exercise increases ROCK activity in the skeletal muscle of middle-aged rats

Publication date: Available online 4 February 2020Source: Mechanisms of Ageing and DevelopmentAuthor(s): Vitor Rosetto Muñoz, Rafael Calais Gaspar, Marcos Vinicius Esteca, Igor Luchini Baptista, Renan Fudoli Lins Vieira, Adelino Sanchez Ramos da Silva, Leandro Pereira de Moura, Dennys Esper Cintra, Eduardo Rochete Ropelle, José Rodrigo PauliAbstractThe physical exercise is a potential strategy to control age-related metabolic disorders, such as insulin resistance, impaired glucose homeostasis, and type 2 diabetes. Rho-kinase (ROCK) increases skeletal muscle glucose uptake through Insulin Receptor Substrate 1 (IRS1) phosphorylation. Here, we investigated the role of physical exercise in ROCK pathway in the skeletal muscle of Fischer middle-aged rats. Firstly, we observed the ROCK distribution in different skeletal muscle fiber types. ROCK signaling pathway (ROCK1 and ROCK2) and activity (pMYPT1) were higher in the soleus, which was associated with increased insulin signaling pathway (pIR, pIRS1, pPDK, pGSK3β). Middle-aged rats submitted to physical exercise, showed the upregulation of ROCK2 content and normalized RhoA (ROCK activator enzyme) levels in soleus muscle compared with middle-aged sedentary rats. These molecular changes in middle-aged exercised rats were accompanied by higher insulin signaling (pIRS1, pGSK3β, pAS160, GLUT4) in the soleus muscle. Reinforcing these findings, when pharmacological inhibition of ROCK activity was performed (using Y-27632), the insulin...
Source: Mechanisms of Ageing and Development - Category: Geriatrics Source Type: research