Housing temperature influences exercise training adaptations in mice

Abstract

Abstract Exercise training is a powerful means to combat metabolic pathologies. Mice are extensively used to describe the benefits of exercise, but mild cold stress induced by housing temperatures may confound translation to humans. Thermoneutral housing is a strategy to make mice more metabolically similar to humans but its effects on exercise adaptations are unknown. Using voluntary wheel running, we show that thermoneutral housing blunted exercise-induced improvements in insulin action in muscle and adipose tissue. Moreover, thermoneutrality reduced the effects of training on energy expenditure, body composition, muscle and adipose tissue protein expressions, and the gut microbiome. The majority of these thermoneutral-dependent training adaptations could not be ascribed to a lower voluntary running volume. Thus, we conclude that organismal adaptations to exercise training in mice critically depend upon housing temperature. Our findings underscore the importance of housing temperature as an important parameter in the design and interpretation of murine exercise studies. Highlights Housing at 30°C blunts several adaptations to exercise training in mice Exercise-sensitive protein induction is dampened at 30°C in skeletal muscle 30°C-housing blunts training-induced increase in insulin-stimulated glucose uptake Glucose tolerance is not improved by voluntary exercise training at 30°C housing Decreased running in 30°C housing is not due to overheating Graphical abstract