Effect of a Single Bout of Prior Moderate Exercise on Cutaneous Perfusion in Type 2 Diabetes
- Sheri R. Colberg, PHD1,
- Henri K. Parson, PHD2,
- Tanja Nunnold, MSED1,
- D. Robb Holton, MSED1 and
- Aaron I. Vinik, MD, PHD2
- 1Exercise Science, Sport, Physical Education, and Recreation Department, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia
- 2The Strelitz Diabetes Institutes at Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, Virginia
- Address correspondence and reprint requests to Sheri Colberg, PhD, ESPER Department, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA 23529. E-mail: scolberg{at}odu.edu
In diabetic individuals, increased shunting of circulation away from the skin may exist, contributing to their greater risk for ulcerations and poor cutaneous healing. In a prospective study (1), we previously found a lower skin perfusion during local heating in the foot dorsum of sedentary type 2 diabetic individuals compared with active people without diabetes. This defect was present despite normal increases in skin interstitial nitric oxide (NO), suggesting that NO is either ineffective or not involved (2). A prior bout of maximal exercise also lessened the impaired responsiveness to local heating of the dorsal foot in active type 2 diabetic individuals but not in their sedentary counterparts (3). Thus, this study examined the effect of a single bout of prior moderate cycle exercise on dorsal foot cutaneous perfusion and interstitial NO.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
Thirty-two diabetic and 26 nondiabetic subjects of both sexes free of known cardiovascular disease, severe peripheral neuropathy, unstable proliferative retinopathy, end-stage renal disease, uncontrolled hypertension, insulin use, and angiotensin II receptor blocker or ACE inhibitor use participated in the study and were in one of the following groups: control exercisers (n = 13), control sedentary (n = 13), diabetic exercisers (n = 15), and diabetic sedentary (n = 17). By self-report, exercisers had participated in aerobic exercise for ≥30 min three times per week for ≥6 months.
Each subject underwent a graded, maximal exercise protocol on a cycle ergometer described previously (3). On another day, subjects returned to complete 20 min of moderate exercise at ∼50% of the predetermined …
