Endurance training may change cell recycling and death signals in belly fat of rats on a long-term high-fat diet

Endurance training reduced body weight and visceral fat mass in rats fed a high-fat diet.

• Endurance training reversed increases in larger adipocytes and decreased the percentage of smaller adipocytes in high-fat diet-fed rats.
• High-fat diet decreased the levels of pre-adipocyte factor 1 (DLK1/PREF1) and increased pro-apoptotic markers, including Bax protein and caspase 3-like activity.
• Endurance training increased DLK1/PREF1 and Bcl-2 levels, while reducing Bax and caspase activities in high-fat diet-fed rats.
• Beclin-1 and p62 protein levels significantly increased in endurance training groups for both standard and high-fat diets.
• Both high-fat diet and endurance training did not affect visceral adipose tissue autophagy markers.

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