Redistribution of glucose uptake by chronic exercise, measured in isolated perfused rat hearts

The effects of 8-9 weeks of running and swimming training on the transmural distribution of cardiac glucose uptake and protein synthesis in isolated perfused heart were studied in male rats. The left ventricular glucose uptake in hearts from sedentary rats was 2.5 +/- 0.3 mumoles/min per g protein (mean +/- S.D.), and about 30% higher in the subendocardial layer than in the subepicardial layer (P less than 0.01). After the running and swimming programs the total left ventricular glucose uptake was at the level of sedentary rats, but the gradient was absent. The rate of protein synthesis was evenly distributed through the left ventricular wall and similar in all experimental groups. The altered transmural distribution of glucose uptake after exercise probably reflects differences in the adaptive response of various myocardial muscle layers to a long-term intermittent increase in the cardiac work load.