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Background & objectives: Estrogen reduction after the menopause is associated with visceral adipose tissue accumulation and insulin resistance. Serum omentin-1 level is also decreased by abdominal obesity and insulin resistance. This study investigated the effect of estrogen on visceral fat, omentin-1 and insulin resistance in ovariectomized (OVX) rats.

Methods: Thirty 13-week-old female Wistar rats weighing180±5 gr were randomly matched on their body weight and divided into OVX (n=20) and sham-operated (SHAM; n=10) groups. OVX rats were subdivided into estrogen replacement therapy (Ovx+Est; n=10), and control (Ovx+sesame Oil; n=10) groups. The estrogen replacement therapy received 17b-estradiol (30µg/kg bw; in 0.2 ml sesame oil) three days a week, for eight weeks. Ovx+Oil received the same sesame oil subcutaneously as vehicle. All intra-abdominal fat depots were dissected out and weighed immediately. Omentin-1 concentration was measured by rat omentin ELISA kit and HOMA-IR was used to estimate the insulin resistance. Obtained data were analyzed by ANOVA and post hoc Tukey test.

Results: Visceral fat was decreased by 12.84% in Ovx+Est compared to Ovx+Oil group; but it wasn ́t significant. Whereas, body weight was significantly decreased by 7.87 % in Ovx+Est compared to Ovx+Oil; and it was significantly increased by 12.5% in Ovx+Oil compared to SHAM group. Omentin-1 level was significantly increased by 41% in Ovx+Est compared to Ovx+Oil group; whereas it was significantly decreased by 13.9% in Ovx+Oil compared to SHAM group. The levels of glucose, insulin and HOMA-IR were significantly decreased to 51.16%, 24.23% and 61.52%, respectively, in Ovx+Est group compared to the rats in Ovx+Oil group (p=0.0001).

Conclusion: 8-week estrogen reduces body weight and improves insulin resistance probably via increase in omentin-1.

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Background & objectives: Recently it has been shown that some adipose tissue-derived hormones, such as apelin and omentin, can be effective in regulating metabolic metabolism. So the aim of the current study was to examine the effect of 12-weeks Pilates’ body training on serum levels of apelin and omentin-1 in inactive and overweight women.
Methods: This is a pre-test and post-test clinical trial study in which 28 volunteer overweight women with average BMI of 27.2±1.1 kg/m² participated. They were randomly divided into training group (n=14) and control group (n=14). Pilates exercise training was performed 3 sessions per week, 60 min per session for 12 weeks. In order to measure the changes in serum levels of apelin and omentine-1, blood samples were taken after 12-14 hours at fasting status in two steps, 48 hours before the first training session and 48 hours after the last training session. The paired t-test and the ANCOVA test were used to examine intra-group and inter-group differences, respectively.
Results: Based on the findings of this study, 12 weeks of Pilates training had a significant decrease in apelin serum levels in both intra-group and inter-group with significance level of (p=0.001) and (p=0.009) respectively. Serum levels of omentin-1 also changed significantly in both intra-group and inter-group. The serum levels of omentin-1 in the exercise group significantly increased after 12 weeks compared to pre-training with significance level of (p=0.002) and in comparison with the control group with significance level of (p=0.003).
Conclusion: Regarding to the results of the current study and the positive effect of Pilates exercise on adipokines levels, it seems that Pilates exercise can be a functional factor for regulating adipose tissue hormones (adipokines) in obese or overweight women, and overweight people can do Pilates exercise  based on their ability.