Detraining Leads to Weight Gain and a Decrease in Hepatic Glycogen after 8 Weeks of Training

Many studies have evaluated the effects of physical training on several metabolic parameters, but few studies have been conducted to evaluate the effects of detraining on these variables. Female mice were distributed into three experimental groups: sedentary controls (C-SED, not trained), trained controls (TR, trained for 10 weeks) and a detraining group (DT, animals detrained for 2 weeks after 8 weeks of training). The exercise protocol was performed by swimming applied for 60 min/day on 5 days/week. The DT group showed an increase of body weight in the 10th week when compared to the 8th week (after training cessation) and the TR group. The groups did not show differences in the plasma levels of corticosterone, glucose, total cholesterol or triglycerides. The DT group showed decreased glycogen content when compared to the TR group. No significant differences were found in the gene expression of glycogen synthase or glycogen phosphorylase or in hepatic glycogen content between CT and TR or DT group. We verified that after a training period of 8 weeks, the animals had an increase in body weight after two weeks of detraining. After two weeks of detraining, animals showed a decrease in liver glycogen content, without an altered fasting glucose concentration in their plasma.