Exercise remodels the skeletal muscle immune microenvironment to ameliorate type 2 diabetes mellitus-induced muscle atrophy: From immunometabolism to organ crosstalk.

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) complicated by muscle atrophy (diabetic sarcopenia) significantly increases mortality risk, with immunometabolic imbalance-driven disruption of the skeletal muscle microenvironment as a core mechanism. This review focuses on the immune cell-myocyte crosstalk network to elucidate the pathological mechanisms of T2DM-induced muscle atrophy, the local remodeling effects of exercise, and systemic organ crosstalk. In the T2DM state, M1/M2 imbalance and metabolic reprogramming of macrophages, dysregulated mast cell activation and histamine signaling, NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated pyroptosis, T-cell immunosenescence, and chemokine storms collectively disrupt muscle homeostasis. Exercise reverses these abnormalities by downregulating TRIB3/AKT to promote M2 polarization, restoring mast cell function, inhibiting the NLRP3/caspase-1/GSDMD pyroptosis pathway, increasing Treg infiltration, and downregulating the chemokine network, thereby shifting the local microenvironment from a "pro-inflammatory/destructive" to a "reparative/regenerative" state. Furthermore, exercise exerts systemic regulation through multiple organ axes, including adipose tissue (adipokines and inflammation), gut microbiota, liver (SIRT1/FGF21 signaling), and the brain (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and myokines such as BDNF and CTSB for bidirectional neuroimmune regulation). In summa

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

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