Aerobic exercise and metformin on intermuscular adipose tissue (IMAT): insights from multimodal MRI and histological changes in prediabetic rats

Table 4 Comparison of muscle and IMAT magnetic-resonance parameters and muscle fat components

Parameter	CON	PRE	MET	EXE	EMA	EMC
IMAT
T2 (ms)	98.71 ± 2.05^bce	127.9 ± 1.90^adf	126.1 ± 1.31^adf	107.5 ± 3.48^bce	122.1 ± 2.17^adf	106.3 ± 1.82^bce
ADC (10^–3 mm²/s)	0.67 ± 0.03^bce	0.95 ± 0.09^adf	0.86 ± 0.02^adf	0.56 ± 0.02^bce	0.88 ± 0.05^adf	0.56 ± 0.03^bce
FA	0.35 ± 0.02	0.26 ± 0.02^df	0.28 ± 0.01^df	0.44 ± 0.03^bce	0.32 ± 0.04^df	0.50 ± 0.05^bce
Muscle
T2 (ms)	34.26 ± 0.13^b	37.85 ± 0.37^acdef	36.19 ± 0.19^bdf	35.21 ± 0.25^bc	35.48 ± 0.12^bc	35.18 ± 0.24^bc
ADC (10^–3 mm²/s)	1.47 ± 0.02^b	1.62 ± 0.03^acdf	1.52 ± 0.02^bdf	1.41 ± 0.01^bce	1.56 ± 0.03^bf	1.43 ± 0.02^bce
FA	0.26 ± 0.03	0.20 ± 0.01^df	0.22 ± 0.02^df	0.30 ± 0.04^bc	0.23 ± 0.01	0.32 ± 0.03^bc
IMCL/Cr	8.79 ± 1.57^b	32.60 ± 9.98^a	26.58 ± 13.53	16.62 ± 11.68	14.77 ± 4.14	14.92 ± 5.26

Data are expressed as the means ± standard error of the mean (n = 6/group)
ADC apparent-diffusion coefficient, CON control group, Cr creatine, EMA combined therapies + compound-c group, EMC combined therapies group, EXE moderate exercise group, FA fractional anisotropy, IMAT intermuscular adipose tissue, IMCL intra-myocellular lipid, MET metformin group, PRE prediabetes group, T2 transverse-relaxation time 2
^ap < 0.05, significantly different from the CON. Group
^bp < 0.05, significantly different from the PRE group
^cp < 0.05, significantly different from the MET group
^dp < 0.05, significantly different from the EXE group
^ep < 0.05, significantly different from the EMA group
^fp < 0.05, significantly different from the EMC group

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