Wu YW, Wu CY, Lin F, Wu JY. Exercise training benefits pancreatic islet by modulating the insulin-like growth factor 1/phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B pathway. World J Diabetes 2025; 16(5): 101447 [DOI: 10.4239/wjd.v16.i5.101447]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Jun-Ying Wu, Chief Physician, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, No. 13 Jiefang South Road, Taiyuan 030001, Shanxi Province, China. wujunying777@126.com
Research Domain of This Article
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Article-Type of This Article
Basic Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Diabetes. May 15, 2025; 16(5): 101447 Published online May 15, 2025. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v16.i5.101447
Exercise training benefits pancreatic islet by modulating the insulin-like growth factor 1/phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B pathway
Ya-Wen Wu, Chu-Yan Wu, Feng Lin, Jun-Ying Wu
Ya-Wen Wu, Jun-Ying Wu, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan 030001, Shanxi Province, China
Ya-Wen Wu, Feng Lin, School of Rehabilitation Medicine, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 211166, Jiangsu Province, China
Chu-Yan Wu, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu Province, China
Author contributions: Wu YW, Wu CY and Lin F designed the experiments and conducted clinical data collection, performed postoperative follow-up and recorded the data, conducted the collation and statistical analysis; Wu YW, Lin F and Wu JY wrote the original manuscript and revised the paper; All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: The research was authorized by the Animal Ethics Committee of the First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, confirming adherence to the required animal welfare guidelines.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: The authors have read the ARRIVE guidelines, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the ARRIVE guidelines.
Data sharing statement: All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Jun-Ying Wu, Chief Physician, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, The First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, No. 13 Jiefang South Road, Taiyuan 030001, Shanxi Province, China. wujunying777@126.com
Received: November 28, 2024 Revised: February 11, 2025 Accepted: March 25, 2025 Published online: May 15, 2025 Processing time: 147 Days and 23.6 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Diabetes is characterized by insulin resistance as well as impaired insulin production, with β-cell dysfunction playing a critical role in disease progression. Exercise is known to improve insulin sensitivity, but its effects on pancreatic islet quality and function remain poorly understood. This work hypothesized that swimming training enhances glycemic control and insulin secretion by upregulating the insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1)/phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B (PI3K/AKT) pathway in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats.
AIM
To investigate the effects of swimming on pancreatic islet quality and function in STZ-induced diabetic rats via the IGF-1/PI3K/AKT pathway.
METHODS
Twenty-six Sprague-Dawley rats were grouped into diabetic and control groups, with each group further split into exercise and sedentary subgroups. Diabetic rats were induced with STZ. The exercise groups underwent swimming training for 60 minutes/day, 5 days/week, for 8 weeks. Body weight, food intake, blood glucose, insulin, lipids, and muscle glycogen were measured. Pancreatic islet morphology and the protein expression levels of IGF-1, PI3K, and AKT were analyzed. Data were analyzed using two-way repeated-measure ANOVA, followed by Tukey’s post-hoc test.
RESULTS
Exercise training significantly improved body weight [diabetic exercise group (D-Ex): 390.66 ± 50.14 g vs diabetic sedentary group (D-Sed): 315.89 ± 50.12 g, P < 0.05], reduced blood glucose (D-Ex: 12.21 ± 4.43 mmol/L vs D-Sed: 17.79 ± 2.05 mmol/L, P < 0.05), and increased insulin levels (D-Ex: 53.50 ± 15.31 pmol/L vs D-Sed: 25.31 ± 10.23 pmol/L, P < 0.05) in diabetic rats. It also enhanced islet morphology, increased IGF-1 expression, and activated the PI3K/AKT pathway (P < 0.05). In-vitro experiments confirmed that IGF-1 positively regulated insulin expression and inhibited β-cell apoptosis via the PI3K/AKT pathway.
CONCLUSION
Exercise training improves pancreatic islet quality and function in diabetic rats by modulating the IGF-1/PI3K/AKT pathway, highlighting its therapeutic potential for diabetes management.
Core Tip: In this study, we intended to reveal the outcomes of swimming training on pancreatic islets, blood glucose, insulin, lipids, pancreatic beta-cells, insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), and the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B (PI3K/AKT) pathway expression in diabetic rats. Our study elucidates how exercise training, via the modulation of the IGF-1-regulated PI3K/AKT pathway, improves islet quality and function in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.
