Effects of exercise on sex hormones and expression of relevant genes in the hypothalamus in obese mice.

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to investigate the effect of different exercise loads on sex hormones and expressions of relevant genes in hypothalamus in obese mice. Sixty weaning male C57BL/6 mice were used as subjects. Among them, 15 mice were randomly classified into the normal diet group (CON group), and the remaining 45 mice into high-fat diet group (MOB group). The obesity was successfully achieved by high-fat diet 10 weeks later. Then the rats were randomly divided into three groups based on weight, namely, obesity control group (OBC group), obesity with moderate-intensity exercise group (MOBC group), and obesity with high-intensity exercise group (HOBC group), with 15 mice in each group. Mice in the MOBC group and HOBC group were offered 8 weeks of swimming training, and the exercise time increased incrementally until 2 h and 4 h per day. After the training was over, ELISA method was used to determine the serum levels of Adiponectin (Adipo), luteotropic hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and testosterone (T). Real-time PCR was implemented to detect the transcriptional levels of genes of Adipo and other relevant proteins in the hypothalamus. The result showed that compared with the CON group, there was a significant reduction in the serum levels of Adipo, LH, FSH and T in the OBC group (P<0.05). As compared with the OBC group, the serum levels of Adipo, LH, FSH and T increased significantly in the OBC group (P<0.05). There was a significant increase in the transcriptional levels of Adipo, Adipo receptor 1 (Adipo R1), and AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) in the OBC group (P<0.05) compared to in the CON group; meanwhile, the transcriptional levels of kisspeptin (Kiss) and gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) decreased significantly (P<0.05). In conclusion, long-term moderate-intensity exercise could improve the negative effect of obesity on sex development. Long-term high-intensity exercises could not improve the inhibitory effect of obesity on sex development.