Aerobic training prior to myocardial infarction increases cardiac GLUT4 and partially preserves heart function in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

We assessed cardiac function (echocardiographic) and glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4) expression (Western blot) in response to 10 weeks of aerobic training (treadmill) prior to acute myocardial infarction (AMI) by ligation of the left coronary artery in spontaneously hypertensive rats. Animals were allocated to sedentary+sham, sedentary+AMI, training+sham, and training+AMI. Aerobic training prior to AMI partially preserves heart function. AMI and/or aerobic training increased GLUT4 expression. However, those animals trained prior to AMI showed a greater increase in GLUT4 in cardiomyocytes.