The purpose of this study was to examine whether endurance exercise training can prevent hyperglycemia and microangiopathy of plantaris muscle in animal models that spontaneously develop type 2 diabetes. Elevenweeks-old male Spontaneously Diabetic Torii（SDT）rats and age-matched male Sprague-Dawley rats（Con）were used in the present study. SDT rats were randomly assigned to non-exercise（DB）and exercise（DBEx）groups. The rats assigned to DBEx group were trained on a treadmill 5 times a week for 14 weeks, with the running for 60 min at 15 m/min. After 18 weeks old, the blood glucose level of DB group was signifi cantly higher than that of the Con and DBEx groups, whereas there was no significant difference between the Con and DBEx groups. At 25 weeks old, the levels of blood glucose and HbA1c in the DB group significantly increased by 2.1-hold and 2.3-hold compared to the Con group, respectively. While those of the DBEx group were significantly lower than that of the DB group. In addition, the capillary-to-fiber ratio of plantaris muscle in the DB group was significantly lower than those of the Con and DBEx groups, whereas there was no significant difference between the Con and DBEx groups. These results suggest that endurance exercise training prevents the onset of type 2 diabetes and the microangiopathy in plantaris muscle.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the cortical motor areas activated in relation to complex hand movements, and the motor area related to motor skill learning. Regional cerebral oxygenated hemoglobin (OxyHb) was measured in seven right-handed healthy female volunteers using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) during a two-ball-rotation task using the right hand. In the two-ball-rotation tasks, subjects were required to rotate the same two golf balls either with the right hand for 50-s alternated with 10-s rest for 10 repetitions. Performance improved significantly after the motor learning task. Maximum EMG value of the common digital extensor and the flexor carpi radialis muscles during one cycle decreased gradually with repetitions of the task cycles. Peak EMG values observed at 57.0±43.0 sec in the common digital extensor muscle and 54.7±30.4 sec in the flexor carpi radialis muscle. Task-related increases of OxyHb were observed in the channels covering the sensorimotor area (SM), premotor area (PM) and supplemental motor area (SMA). However, the OxyHb peaked at 268.6±96.9 sec in the SM, 168.4±34.9 sec in the PM, and 195.7±83.1 sec in the SMA. The peak times of EMGs were earlier than those of OxyHb in motor related cortical areas (SM and SAM, P<0.01; PM, P<0.05). In addition, the peak time of the OxyHb in PM was observed earlier than that in SM (P<0.05). Our findings indicate that OxyHb changes in the motor areas are not related simply to movement. These data suggest that SM, PM and SMA plays an important role in the early phase of motor learning and the PM might be more involved in the early learning phase of the motor skill.