No evidence of brown adipose tissue activation after 24 weeks of supervised exercise training in young sedentary adults in the ACTIBATE randomized controlled trial

• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-32502-x
• Publication Date: 2022-09-13T10:28:01Z
• Authors: Borja Martinez-Te...; Guillermo Sanchez...; Francisco M. Acosta; Juan M. A. Alcantara; Francisco J. Amar...; Wendy D. Martinez...; Elisa Merchan-Ram...; Victoria Muñoz-He...; Francisco J. Osun...; Lucas Jurado-Fasoli; Huiwen Xu; Lourdes Ortiz-Alv...; María J. Arias-Te...; Andrea Mendez-Gut...; Idoia Labayen; Francisco B. Ortega; Milena Schönke; Patrick C. N. Rensen; Concepción M. Agu...; José M. Llamas-El...; Ángel Gil; Jonatan R. Ruiz
• Keywords: Endurance Training

Abstract Exercise modulates both brown adipose tissue (BAT) metabolism and white (WAT) browning in murine models. Whether this is true humans, however, has remained unknown. An unblinded randomized controlled trial (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT02365129) was therefore conducted to study the effects of a 24-week supervised exercise intervention, combining endurance resistance training, on BAT volume activity (primary outcome). The carried out Sport Health University Research Institute Virgen de las Nieves Hospital Granada (Spain). One hundred forty-five young sedentary adults were assigned either (i) control group (no exercise, n = 54), (ii) moderate intensity (MOD-EX, 48), or (iii) vigorous (VIG-EX 43) by unrestricted randomization. No relevant adverse events recorded. 97 participants (34 men, 63 women) included final analysis (Control; 35, MOD-EX; 31, VIG-EX; 31). We observed no changes (Δ Control: −22.2 ± 52.6 ml; Δ MOD-EX: −15.5 62.1 ml, VIG-EX: −6.8 66.4 P 0.771) 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose uptake (SUVpeak −2.6 3.1 −1.2 4.8, −2.2 5.1; p 0.476) groups. Thus, we did not find any evidence an exercise-induced change adults.