Trial Information

Aging, Lifestyle and Inflammation in Veterans Exercising

Adipose tissue is increasingly recognized as more than an inert depot serving not only to
accept and store excess energy in the form of triglycerides, but also to secrete hormones
and adipokines that have substantial effects on lipid and glucose metabolism. Furthermore,
there are depot differences in metabolic function, as well as adipokine content. However,
the physiology both underlying and consequential to these observations remains unknown. This
research is therefore designed to examine:

1) the effects of aging and obesity on regional adipokine secretion and expression, 2)
whether elevated adipokine levels in older obese people are due to increased macrophage
infiltration into subcutaneous adipose tissue and/or related to total, subcutaneous or
visceral abdominal fat (SAT or VAT) distribution, and 3) the relationship of adipokines to
insulin resistance and the constituents of the metabolic syndrome.

Specifically, we aim to determine:

1. if the expression and secretion of a) the inflammatory markers SAA, IL-6, TNF-a, MCP-1
is greater, and b) the anti-inflammatory hormone adiponectin is lower in SC abdominal
and gluteal adipose tissue from older, compared to middle-aged and younger obese
subjects across a narrow range of obesity and waist circumference;

2. if these age-associated changes in adipokine production are a)due to the degree of
macrophage infiltration of regional adipose tissue, and/or differences in a greater
degree of visceral and/or differences in ABD fat distribution (SAT, VAT), and b)
related to glucose and lipid metabolic profiles of the subjects; and

3. the effects of a WL+AEX intervention on regional adipokine expression and secretion,
circulating levels of CRP and the above adipokines, and glucose and lipid metabolism in
a subset of obese sedentary individuals with greater than two components of the
metabolic syndrome.