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Voluntary Activity Alleviates Obesity-Induced Structural Changes of the Lung

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A2379 - Voluntary Activity Alleviates Obesity-Induced Structural Changes of the Lung
Author Block: J. Schipke, N. Ahrendt, T. Steingrueber, E. Lopez-Rodriguez, C. Mühlfeld; Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
RATIONALE: Obesity is a growing pandemic health problem and linked to a wide range of respiratory conditions including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Physical exercise beneficially affects lung function; however, it is unclear whether there is a structural correlate to this. We hypothesize that voluntary activity reduces the body weight, improves lung mechanics and diminishes pulmonary structural changes in obese mice.
METHODS: Male C57BL/6N mice had ad libitum access to control diet (CD) or high fat diet (HFD; 60 kcal% fat, mainly lard) and were housed in cages with or without running wheels resulting in the experimental groups CD, CD-active, HFD and HFD-active. Body weight, food consumption and running distance were weekly recorded. After 30 weeks, lung mechanic measurements were performed and left lungs were processed and analyzed according to design-based stereological standards.
RESULTS: HFD induced significantly higher body weights due to increased calorie intake in comparison to CD. Voluntary activity resulted in higher calorie consumption irrespective of the diet, what however did not affect weight gain. Furthermore, HFD decreased weekly running distances.
Diet and activity exerted only minor effects on lung mechanics including an overall reduced elastance induced by voluntary activity and an overall increased inspiratory capacity in HFD-fed mice, particularly for active groups. The static compliance was unaltered.
Left lung volumes as well as volumes of alveolar air and septa were significantly increased in response to HFD. This was accompanied by higher septal surface and thickness and the volumes of cellular and extracellular septal components were enhanced proportionally. Remarkably, voluntary activity alleviated HFD-related changes in lung and alveolar air volume, septal surface and epithelial, endothelial and interstitial cell volumes. Moreover, septal volume and thickness as well as septal ECM volumes were normalized to control levels in HFD-active mice.
CONCLUSION: We conclude that voluntary activity, even if ineffective against weight gain, is a potent intervention strategy against obesity-related pulmonary structural changes, what may contribute to exercise-induced improvement of lung function.
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