Serum concentration of myostatin, insulin and glucose response to continuous and discontinuous exercises in overweight menopausal and menstrual women

Introduction: Myostatin regulates skeletal muscle mass and adipogenesis, but serum response to continuous and discontinuous exercises training it has not been studied in menopause and menstrual groups of women. The purpose of this study was to investigate the serum response of myostatin, insulin and glucose to use four different aerobic exercises training in menopause and menstrual groups of women.

Methods: Seventeen overweight women (BMI>30 and 40-50 years old) in Bandar abbas voluntarily participated in this study and randomly divided into two groups: menopausal (n=8) and menstrual (n=9) groups. Myostatin, insulin and glucose were measured before and after four different exercise sessions including continuous and discontinuous aerobic training in water and on treadmill. Data were analyzed by paired t-test and Analysis of covariance.

Results: Myostatin levels were significantly decreased after continuous and discontinuous training in water, and discontinuous training on treadmill in menopause group (P<0.05). Meanwhile, myostatin level showed significant decrease in all four different conditions of training in menstrual group (P<0.05). Insulin levels were significantly decreased after continuous and discontinuous training in water, and continuous training on treadmill in both menstrual and menopause groups (P<0.05). Glucose levels were significantly decreased after continuous and discontinuous training in water, and continuous training on treadmill in menopause group (P<0.05). In menstrual group, glucose levels were significantly decreased after continuous and discontinuous training on treadmill, and discontinuous training in water (P<0.05).

Conclusion: The lowest myostatin response was seen in discontinuous training in water in both menopause and menstrual groups, while the highest myostatin response observed in menopause group who committed continuous training on treadmill. This study suggested that discontinuous than continuous exercise, and exercise in the water than on treadmill, Lead to better response in variables are listed