Impacts of an Exercise Intervention on the Health of Pancreatic Beta-Cells: A Review

Abstract

There is an increasing consensus that exercise is a medicine and that regular exercise can effectively improve and prevent metabolic diseases such as diabetes. Islet cells are the endocrine of the pancreas and vital to the development of diabetes. Decades of developmental research in exercise intervention and the health of islet cells confirmed that exercise exerts beneficial effects on the function, proliferation, and survival rate of islet cells. However, the precise exercise reference scheme is still elusive. To accomplish this goal, we searched and analyzed relevant articles, and concluded the precise exercise prescription treatments for various species such as humans, rats, and mice. Each exercise protocol is shown in the tables below. These exercise protocols form a rich pipeline of therapeutic development for exercise on the health of islet cells.

New Molecules in Type 2 Diabetes: Advancements, Challenges and Future Directions

“…In particular, resveratrol, one of the most studied components of the mediterranean diet and a polyphenolic compound contained in many plants (e.g., grapes, berries, cocoa, tomatoes, and peanuts), exert its anti-senescence effects through its anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory properties and the capacity to activates the expression of various antioxidant defensive enzymes (e.g., heme oxygenase 1, catalase, glutathione peroxidase, and superoxide dismutase) as well as regulating different key signaling pathways (including sirtuin 1, nuclear factor-erythroid 2-related factor 2 and nuclear factor κB) [ 98 , 99 ]. On the other hand, exercise resulted in the health of islet cells, in terms of their function, proliferation, and survival rate [ 100 ]. Moreover, physical exercise prevents cellular senescence and protects from stress-induced vascular apoptosis by modulating telomere-stabilizing proteins in mice and in humans [ 101 ].…”

The Effect of Adding Different Doses of Exercise Training to a Diet-Induced Weight Loss on Beta-Cell Function in Persons with Newly Diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes: Primary Findings from the DOSE-EX Multi-Arm, Parallel-Group, Randomized Trial

“…Human studies investigating the effects of exercise on the beta-cell function in T2D are scarce and inconclusive [6,[9][10][11][12]. The inconsistencies may relate to differences in concomitant pharmacological therapy, to the patients' pre-trial insulin secretory capacity, or to differences in exercise modality, intensity, and/or volume [7,8,[13][14][15]. Inconsistent ndings could also be related to a failure to correct for prevailing insulin sensitivity when assessing beta-cell function.…”