Severe diabetes prohibits elevations in muscle protein synthesis after acute resistance exercise in rats

This study determined whether rates of protein synthesis increase after acute resistance exercise in skeletal muscle from severely diabetic rats. Previous studies consistently show that postexercise rates of protein synthesis are elevated in nondiabetic and moderately diabetic rats. Severely diabetic rats performed acute resistance exercise (n = 8) or remained sedentary (n = 8). A group of nondiabetic age-matched rats served as controls (n = 9). Rates of protein synthesis were measured 16 h after exercise. Plasma glucose concentrations were >500 mg/dl in the diabetic rats. Rates of protein synthesis (nmol phenylalanine incorporated·g muscle^-1· h^-1, means ± SE) were not different between exercised (117 ± 7) and sedentary (106 ± 9) diabetic rats but were significantly (P < 0.05) lower than in sedentary nondiabetic rats (162 ± 9) and in exercised nondiabetic rats (197 ± 7). Circulating insulin concentrations were 442 ± 65 pM in nondiabetic rats and 53 ± 11 and 72 ± 19 pM in sedentary and exercised diabetic rats, respectively. Plasma insulin-like growth factor I concentrations were reduced by 33% in diabetic rats compared with nondiabetic rats, and there was no difference between exercised and sedentary diabetic rats. Muscle insulin-like growth factor I was not affected by resistance exercise in diabetic rats. The results show that there is a critical concentration of insulin below which rates of protein synthesis begin to decline in vivo. In contrast to previous studies using less diabetic rats, severely diabetic rats cannot increase rates of protein synthesis after acute resistance exercise.