Acute and long-term exercise adaptation of adipose tissue and skeletal muscle in humans: a matched transcriptomics approach after 8-week training-intervention

This study investigated the acute and long-term effects of exercise on subcutaneous adipose tissue (SCAT) and skeletal muscle transcriptomes in overweight or obese individuals. After an 8-week endurance training program, SCAT showed a distinct response compared to skeletal muscle, with acute downregulation of transcripts related to lipid storage and lipogenesis, potentially mediated by β-adrenergic signaling. Long-term adaptations in SCAT were linked to an anti-inflammatory response and a possible modulation of the circadian clock. No significant beigeing/browning or changes in mitochondrial respiration were observed in SCAT. These findings highlight the unique and independent adaptations of SCAT and skeletal muscle to exercise.

Simon I. Dreher, Martin Irmler, Olga Pivovarova-Ramich, Katharina Kessler, Karsten Jürchott, Carsten Sticht, Louise Fritsche, Patrick Schneeweiss, Jürgen Machann, Andreas F. H. Pfeiffer, Martin Hrabě de Angelis, Johannes Beckers, Andreas L. Birkenfeld, Andreas Peter, Andreas M. Niess, Cora Weigert, Anja Moller