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Roles and mechanism of microRNAs in the regulation of skeletal muscle insulin resistance

ZHENG Li-Fang, CHEN Pei-Jie, XIAO Wei-Hua^*

School of Kinesiology, Shanghai University of Sports, Shanghai 200438, China

Abstract

Insulin resistance is a common pathophysiological mechanism of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Skeletal muscle is one of the major target organs of insulin-mediated glucose uptake, metabolism and utilization, and it is the earliest and most important site of insulin resistance. Studies have shown that the impairments of glucose uptake, insulin signaling pathway and mitochondrial biosynthesis are closely related to skeletal muscle insulin resistance. When insulin resistance develops in skeletal muscle, multiple microRNAs (miRNAs) are up-regulated (miR-106b, miR-23a, miR-761, miR-135a, Let-7 and miR-29a) or down-regulated (miR-133a, miR-149 and miR-1). They participate in the regulation of skeletal muscle glucose uptake, insulin signaling pathway and mitochondrial biogenesis, and thus play important roles in the occurrence and development of skeletal muscle insulin resistance. Therefore, these miRNAs may serve as potential targets for the treatment of skeletal muscle insulin resistance or diabetes.

Key words: microRNAs; skeletal muscle; insulin resistance; mitochondrial biosynthesis

Received: 2018-06-16　　Accepted: 2018-08-16

Corresponding author: 肖卫华　　E-mail: xiaoweihua@sus.edu.cn

DOI: 10.13294/j.aps.2018.0061

Citing This Article：

ZHENG Li-Fang, CHEN Pei-Jie, XIAO Wei-Hua. Roles and mechanism of microRNAs in the regulation of skeletal muscle insulin resistance. Acta Physiol Sin 2019; 71 (3): 497-504 (in Chinese with English abstract).