AGING, EXERCISE AND FOOD RESTRICTION - EFFECTS ON SKELETAL-MUSCLE GLUCOSE-UPTAKE

We investigated the effects of ageing, exercise and food restriction on glucose uptake by muscles perfused with physiological concentrations of insulin and glucose in male Long-Evans rats. The rate of glucose uptake by hindlimb muscles perfused with medium containing 50-mu-U//ml insulin and 8 mM glucose was the same in 9- 10 month-, 18 month-, and 24-month-old rats. Rats exercised by means of swimming 3 h/day, 5 days/week, had significantly higher rates of muscle glucose uptake than did the sedentary freely eating rats. Paired-weight sedentary rats, that were food restricted so as to keep their weights in the same range as those of the swimmers, had a hindlimb glucose uptake rate similar to that of the swimmers, and greater than that of the sedentary freely eating rats. The 24-month-old sedentary freely eating rats showed a trend toward a higher plasma glucose response and a lower plasma insulin response to a glucose tolerance test. The 24-month-old swimmers showed no deterioration in glucose tolerance compared to the 9-10 month-old rats. Our findings argue against the concept that ageing results in skeletal muscle insulin resistance in rats.