The effect of blood flow restriction exercise on N-lactoylphenylalanine and appetite regulation in obese adults: a cross-design study

Shuoqi Li; Rong Guo; Juncheng Wang; Xinyu Zheng; Shuo Zhao; Zhiru Zhang; Wenbing Yu; Shiming Li; Peng Zheng

doi:10.3389/fendo.2023.1289574

The effect of blood flow restriction exercise on N-lactoylphenylalanine and appetite regulation in obese adults: a cross-design study

Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2023 Dec 5:14:1289574. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2023.1289574. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Shuoqi Li^#¹, Rong Guo^#², Juncheng Wang³, Xinyu Zheng³, Shuo Zhao³, Zhiru Zhang³, Wenbing Yu³, Shiming Li³, Peng Zheng³

Affiliations

¹ School of Sports Science, Nantong University, Nantong, China.
² School of Foreign Languages, Ludong University, Yantai, China.
³ Department of Physical Education, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Background: N-lactoylphenylalanine (Lac-Phe) is a new form of "exerkines" closely related to lactate (La), which may be able to inhibit appetite. Blood flow restriction (BFR) can lead to local tissue hypoxia and increase lactate accumulation. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of combining Moderate-intensity Continuous Exercise (MICE) with BFR on Lac-Phe and appetite regulation in obese adults.

Methods: This study employed the cross-design study and recruited 14 obese adults aged 18-24 years. The participants were randomly divided into three groups and performed several tests with specific experimental conditions: (1) M group (MICE without BFR, 60%VO_2max, 200 kJ); (2) B group (MICE with BFR, 60%VO_2max, 200 kJ); and (3) C group (control session without exercise). Participants were given a standardized meal 60 min before exercise and a ad libitum 60 min after exercise. In addition, blood and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) were collected before, immediately after, and 1 hour after performing the exercise.

Results: No significant difference in each index was detected before exercise. After exercise, the primary differential metabolites detected in the M and B groups were xanthine, La, succinate, Lac-Phe, citrate, urocanic acid, and myristic acid. Apart from that, the major enrichment pathways include the citrate cycle, alanine, aspartate, and glutamate metabolism. The enhanced Lac-Phe and La level in the B group was higher than M and C groups. Hunger of the B group immediately after exercise substantially differed from M group. The total ghrelin, glucagon-like peptide-1 and hunger in the B group 1 hour after exercise differed substantially from M group. The results of calorie intake showed no significant difference among the indexes in each group.

Conclusions: In conclusion, this cross-design study demonstrated that the combined MICE and BFR exercise reduced the appetite of obese adults by promoting the secretion of Lac-Phe and ghrelin. However, the exercise did not considerably affect the subsequent ad libitum intake.

Keywords: N-lactoylphenylalanine; ad libitum; appetite regulation; blood flow restriction; moderate-intensity continuous exercise; obesity.

Publication types

Randomized Controlled Trial
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Appetite Regulation*
Blood Flow Restriction Therapy
Citrates
Ghrelin*
Humans
Lactates
Obesity* / metabolism

Substances

Citrates
Ghrelin
Lactates

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The project supported by Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (No.ZR2022MC205), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China (No.202261106) and Nantong University Doctoral Initiation Fund (No.135423619048).