Effects of intermittent hypoxia training on leukocyte pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 1 (PDK-1) mRNA expression and blood insulin level in prediabetes patients

• Published in: European journal of applied physiology 2019-03, Vol.119 (3), p.813-823
• Main Authors: Serebrovska, Tetiana V., Portnychenko, Alla G., Portnichenko, Vladimir I., Xi, Lei, Egorov, Egor, Antoniuk-Shcheglova, Ivanna, Naskalova, Svitlana, Shatylo, Valeriy B.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adaptation, Physiological - physiology; Adult; Aged; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Blood glucose; Chronic illnesses; Clinical trials; Dehydrogenases; Diabetes; Diabetes mellitus; Female; Gene expression; Glucose; Glucose tolerance; Human Physiology; Humans; Hypoxia; Hypoxia - physiopathology; Insulin; Insulin - blood; Leukocytes; Leukocytes - cytology; Male; Middle Aged; Occupational Medicine/Industrial Medicine; Original Article; Patients; Prediabetic State - physiopathology; Protein-Serine-Threonine Kinases - blood; Protein-Serine-Threonine Kinases - genetics; Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Acetyl-Transferring Kinase; Pyruvic acid; RNA, Messenger - genetics; Sports Medicine
• ISSN: 1439-6319; 1439-6327
• DOI: 10.1007/s00421-019-04072-2

Purpose Intermittent hypoxia training/treatment (IHT) is an emerging therapeutic approach to alleviate chronic diseases, such as diabetes. The present study investigated the effects of IHT on blood leucocyte pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 1 (PDK-1) mRNA expression and its relationship with the changes in blood insulin level. Methods Seven adult healthy volunteers and 11 prediabetic patients participated in this study. A 3-week course of IHT consisted of a 40-min session of 4 cycles of 5-min 12% O 2 and 5-min room air breathing per day, 3 sessions per week for 3 weeks (i.e., total 9 sessions of IHT). Plasma insulin levels and leukocyte PDK-1 mRNA expression were determined at various time points either under fasting condition or following oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Correlation between the IHT-induced changes in PDK-1 mRNA and insulin or glucose levels in the same serological samples was analyzed. Results At pre-IHT baseline, PDK-1 mRNA expression was two times higher in prediabetes than control subjects. IHT resulted in significant augmentation in PDK-1 mRNA expression (> twofold) in prediabetes at the end of 3-week IHT and remained elevated 1 month after IHT, which was correlated with a significantly reduced insulin release and lower blood glucose after glucose loading with OGTT. Conclusion IHT can trigger beneficial effects in normalizing blood insulin levels in prediabetic patients under oral glucose load, which were closely correlated with an enhanced mRNA expression of PDK-1 in leukocytes. Further clinical trials are warranted to validate the utility of IHT as a non-invasive complementary therapy against diabetes-associated pathologies.