Effects of combined therapy of ACE inhibitor and exercise on the development of diabetic nephropathy in Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima fatty rats

Abstract

Exercise is an important aspect of diabetes treatment because it improves insulin sensitivity, increases muscle mass, and assists in weight control 1,2) . However, diet and exercise therapies for lifestyle-related diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia do not necessarily lower blood pressure (BP). In addition, The Trial of Preventing Hypertension (TROPHY) study 3) for participants with prehypertension reported that life-style modifications alone, including diet and exercise regimens, coincided with a 40.4% and 63.0% incidence of hypertension after 2 and 4 years, respectively. Furthermore, an exercise regimen for an essential hypertension model, spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) 4) , produced cardiac hypertrophy, cardiomyocyte fibrosis, and renal hypertrophy accompanied by enlargement of glomerular and mesangial areas of the kidneys. Additionally, this regimen was associated with increased BP. Previous studies 1,5,6) reported that the diet regimen for Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima fatty (OLETF) rats, a rat model of type-2 diabetes 7) , showed neither increase in urinary excretion of al-