Obesity‐induced skeletal muscle remodeling: A comparative analysis of exercise training and ACE‐inhibitory drug in male mice

Abstract

Obesity over‐activates the classical arm of the renin‐angiotensin system (RAS), impairing skeletal muscle remodeling. We aimed to compare the effect of exercise training and enalapril, an angiotensin‐converting enzyme inhibitor, on RAS modulation in the skeletal muscle of obese animals. Thus, we divided C57BL/6 mice into two groups: standard chow (SC) and high‐fat (HF) diet for 16 weeks. At the eighth week, the HF‐fed animals were divided into four subgroups—sedentary (HF), treated with enalapril (HF‐E), exercise training protocol (HF‐T), and combined interventions (HF‐ET). After 8 weeks of treatment, we evaluated body mass and index (BMI), body composition, exercise capacity, muscle morphology, and skeletal muscle molecular markers. All interventions resulted in lower BMI and attenuation of overactivation in the classical arm, while favoring the B2R in the bradykinin receptors profile. This was associated with reduced apoptosis markers in obese skeletal muscles. The HF‐T group showed an increase in muscle mass and expression of biosynthesis markers and a reduction in expression of degradation markers and muscle fiber atrophy due to obesity. These findings suggest that the combination intervention did not have a synergistic effect against obesity‐induced muscle remodeling. Additionally, the use of enalapril impaired muscle's physiological adaptations to exercise training.