Objective To investigate the effects of different exercise modalities on body weight, blood glucose, and atherosclerotic plaques in mice with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and atherosclerosis, and further compare the impacts of these exercise modalities on the function of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs).

Methods ApoE-/- mice induced by high-fat feeding combined with streptozotocin (STZ) were constructed into T2DM atherosclerosis model, and 32 mice were randomly divided into blank control group (control group), aerobic exercise (AE) group, resistance exercise (RE) group and aerobic combined with resistance exercise (AE+RE) group. Mice were assessed for the changes of body weight and fasting blood glucose at 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 weeks of exercise intervention. After 8 weeks, the mouse aortas were isolated for Oil Red O staining and hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining, and the mouse bone marrow EPCs were extracted from each group for proliferation, migration, adhesion, and angiogenesis assessments.

Results After 8 weeks of exercise intervention, there were significant differences in the weight loss between the AE group and the AE+RE group compared with the control group (P < 0.05). Blood glucose levels were significantly decreased in all exercise groups (P < 0.05). Oil Red O staining of the aorta showed a significant reduction in the ratio of atherosclerotic plaques to the total vessel area in all exercise groups compared with the control group (P < 0.05). HE staining of aortic sections results indicated no significant difference in plaque-to-vessel diameter ratio between the AE and RE groups compared with the control group (P > 0.05), while the ratio in the AE+RE group was smaller (P < 0.05). EPCs in all exercise groups showed significant improvements in proliferation, migration and angiogenesis compared with the control group (P < 0.05). Adhesion ability was not significantly different between AE and RE groups compared with the control group (P > 0.05), while the AE+RE group showed significantly better adhesion (P < 0.05), and the difference was statistically significant.

Conclusion Compared with single AE or RE methods, AE combined with RE exercise has a better improvement effect on body weight, blood glucose and atherosclerosis in T2DM atherosclerosis mice. It also has a significant positive effect on the promotion of EPCs function.