Exercise training worsens cardiac performance in males but does not change ejection fraction and improves hypertrophy in females in a mouse model of metabolic syndrome

Abstract

Highlights 1. Both HFD/APOB-100 males and females developed obesity and hypercholesterolemia; however, only males presented insulin resistance. Exercise training did not change these metabolic parameters significantly. 2. HFD/APOB-100 males showed echocardiographic signs of mild heart failure with thinner walls and dilated ventricles, whereas females developed a starting left ventricular hypertrophy assessed by echocardiography and histology. 3. In response to exercise training, SD/WT males developed increased left ventricular volumes, and females presented physiologic hypertrophy. 4. Exercise-trained HFD/APOB-100 males presented worsening heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. On the contrary, exercise-trained HFD/APOB-100 females reversed the echocardiographic signs of left ventricular hypertrophy. 5. Sex, metabolic syndrome, and exercise training alter the gene expression pattern of the myocardium, which may be involved in the development of sex-specific cardiac alterations in the state of metabolic syndrome or to exercise training.

Keywords

• Metabolic syndrome
• Hyperlipidemia
• Obesity
• Endoplasmic reticulum stress
• Sex-based differences
• Endurance training