Exercise offers protection against many chronic disorders such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, obesity, certain types of cancer, osteoporosis, dementia and depression. The International Diabetes Federation has estimated 325 mill people to have diabe tes in 2011 and this will probably increase to 552 mill. by 2030. Almost 90 % of diabetics have type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), closely associated with overweight and physical inactivity. Based on estimates from the Nord-Trøndelag Health Surveys (HUNT), incidence of T2DM in Norway has doubled from 1985 to 2006 among men, and the prevalence among some ethnic minorities in Oslo exceeds 20%. In the US and several European countries 30-40% of the population will probably develop diabetes during their lifetim e.
The aim of this Personal mobility grant application (IS-DAAD) is to collaborate with an excellent research group headed by professor Juergen Eckel at the German Diabetes Center in Düsseldorf, namely the Paul-Langerhans-Group for Integrative Physiolog y. We have common scientific interests and complementary expertise within signal protein biology of adipose tissue and skeletal muscle, which already has resulted in recent publications.
We will collaborate on signaling from skeletal muscle as proteins s ecreted in relation to exercise. Eckel's group has extensive experience with cultures of muscle cells also being electro-stimulated to contract similarly to what is happening during physical activity in people. In Oslo we have performed an original human exercise intervention study where we have blood samples and biopsies from skeletal muscle and adipose tissue before as well as after 12 w of exercise in previously untrained subjects. The biobank we have established will be used in our collaborative effor t to unravel the mechanisms behind the positive effects of physical activity on glucose tolerance and other aspects of T2DM. Our results will be important for prevention and treatment of several chronic di