The Interaction Between Metformin and Physical Training

Summary

Physical activity is a first line treatment for patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D), however, the vast majority of patients with T2D do not achieve satisfying glycemic control with physical activity alone, which is why pharmacological treatment with metformin is most often initiated.

It is known that metformin and exercise both activates 5' adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) in skeletal muscle and liver, and the activation of AMPK results in many different metabolic effects, including improvements in glycemic control. Because of this similarity in mechanism of action, an interaction between metformin and exercise is plausible, but knowledge in the area is sparse. Thus, the aim of this study is to assess the effects of training with and without concomitant metformin treatment, in order to investigate whether an interaction between the two occur.

Subjects with impaired glucose tolerance will all undergo 12 weeks of training but will be randomized (1:1) to concomitant metformin/placebo treatment in a double-blinded way. Experimental days will be performed before randomisation (before initiation of metformin/placebo treatment), before initiation of the training period and after the training period.

Conditions

• Impaired Glucose Tolerance
• Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2

Interventions

DRUG

Metformin treatment

Daily treatment with metformin tablets for 101 days according to the following scheme: Day 1-4: Metformin tablet 500 mg x 2 Day 5-8: Metformin tablet 1000 + 500 mg Day 9-101: Metformin tablet 1000 mg x 2

DRUG

Placebo treatment

Daily treatment with placebo tablets for 101 days according to the following scheme: Day 1-4: Placebo tablet 500 mg x 2 Day 5-8: Placebo tablet 1000 + 500 mg Day 9-101: Placebo tablet 1000 mg x 2

BEHAVIORAL

Physical training

Twelve weeks of supervised physical training (4 times per week, 45 min per session, mean intensity at 70% of maximal oxygen consumption rate)

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Copenhagen

  collaborator OTHER

• Kristian Karstoft

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Kristian Karstoft, MD, PhD · Rigshospitalet, Denmark

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

TRIPLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

70 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2017-10-20

Primary Completion

2018-10-01

Completion

2018-10-01

Countries

• Denmark

Study Locations