Antidiuretic hormone and the activation of glucose production during high intensity aerobic exercise

This study aimed to investigate the role that antidiuretic hormone (ADH) may play in the activation of glucose production during high intensity aerobic exercise.

This study was part of larger study based on a repeated measures cross-over study design and involved ten adult participants who exercised in the morning at 80 % V̇O₂peak for up to 40 min or until exhaustion. During and after exercise, the participants were subjected to a morning euglycaemic/euinsulinaemic clamp while [6,6-²H₂]glucose was infused and blood sampled to measure the endogenous rate of glucose appearance (Ra) and ADH levels.

The levels of plasma ADH were 1.8 ± 0.2 pmol/L (mean ± SEM) at rest and increased to 10.5 ± 2.1 pmol/L at the end of exercise (mean ± SEM), which lasted 8.5-40 min. In response to exercise, glucose Ra also rose significantly (p < 0.05), but there was no significant association between changes in ADH levels and glucose Ra (r = 0.49; p = 0.150).

Although the significant increase in glucose Ra and ADH levels during high intensity aerobic exercise suggest for the first time that these processes may be causally related, there was no significant association between these variables, maybe because of the small sample size and varying exercise durations. Hence, the importance of the causal role that ADH may play in the exercise-mediated activation of hepatic glucose production warrants further in depth investigations.