Glucose metabolism in the perfused liver did not improve with resistance training in male Swiss mice under caloric restriction.

Context: Energy homeostasis is a primary factor for the survival of mammals. Many tissues and organs, among which is the liver, keep this homeostasis in varied circumstances, including caloric restriction (CR) and physical activity.

Objective: This study investigated glucose metabolism using the following groups of eight-week-old male Swiss mice: CS, sedentary and fed freely; RS, sedentary and RT, trained, both under 30% CR (n = 20-23 per group).

Results: Organs and fat depots of groups RS and RT were similar to CS, although body weight was lower. CR did not impair training performance nor affected systemic or hepatic glucose metabolism. Training combined with CR (group RT) improved in vivo glucose tolerance and did not affect liver gluconeogenesis.

Conclusions: The mice tolerated the prolonged moderate CR without impairment of their well-being, glucose homeostasis, and resistance training performance. But the higher liver gluconeogenic efficiency previously demonstrated using this training protocol in mice was not evidenced under CR.