Integrin-associated ILK and PINCH1 protein content are reduced in skeletal muscle of maintenance haemodialysis patients.

Key Points: Patients with renal failure undergoing maintenance haemodialysis are associated with insulin resistance and protein metabolism dysfunction. Novel research suggests that disruption to the transmembrane protein linkage between the cytoskeleton and the extracellular matrix in skeletal muscle may contribute to reduced amino acid metabolism and insulin resistance in haemodialysis. ILK, PINCH1 and pFAK were significantly decreased in haemodialysis compared to controls, whereas Rac1 and Akt2 showed no different between groups.

The impact of submaximal exercise during heat and/or hypoxia on the cardiovascular and monocyte HSP72 responses to subsequent (post 24 h) exercise in hypoxia.

Background: The aims of this study were to describe the cellular stress response to prolonged endurance exercise in acute heat, hypoxia and the combination of heat and hypoxia and to determine whether prior acute exposure to these stressors improved cellular tolerance to a subsequent exercise bout in hypoxia 24 h later.

Methods: Twelve males (age 22 ± 4 years, height 1.77 ± 0.

Akt/PKB activation and insulin signaling: a novel insulin signaling pathway in the treatment of type 2 diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes is a metabolic disease categorized primarily by reduced insulin sensitivity, β-cell dysfunction, and elevated hepatic glucose production. Treatments reducing hyperglycemia and the secondary complications that result from these dysfunctions are being sought after. Two distinct pathways encourage glucose transport activity in skeletal muscle, ie, the contraction-stimulated pathway reliant on Ca(2+)/5'-monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK)-dependent mechanisms and an insulin-dependent pathway activated via upregulation of serine/threonine protein kinase Akt/PKB.