Role of skeletal muscle-fibre type in regulation of glucose metabolism in middle-aged subjects with impaired glucose tolerance during a long-term exercise and dietary intervention

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the role of skeletal muscle fibre type in the regulation of glucose metabolism in middle-aged obese subjects with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) during a 2-year exercise anddietary intervention. Methods: Muscle biopsies (musculus vastus lateralis) were taken from 22 subjects belonging to the intervention group of the Finnish Diabetes Prevention Study [1]. According to their myosin heavy chain (MHC) profile at the baseline, the subjects were divided into two groups: IGT s l o w (n = 10) with a high proportion of MHC I isoforms and IGT f a s t (n = 12) with a high proportion of MHC II isoforms in the vastus lateralis muscle. The intervention con…