Abstract: Objective: To explore the changes of a series of indexes of adipose tissue in hypoxic exercise in a high-fat diet (HFD) induced insulin resistance rats model, and preliminarily investigate the effects of hypoxia on adipose tissue in rats with insulin resistance, so as to provide a new theoretical basis for exercise treatment of obesity and insulin resistance. Methods: The rats were screened by a HFD for 8 weeks and a model of insulin resistance was established. The 24 rats were randomly divided into 4 groups: control group (NC, n=6), normoxic exercise group (NE), hypoxic quiet group (HC, n=6) and hypoxic exercise group (HE, n=6). The rats in NE and HE were trained by the horizontal animal running platform, and the rats in HC and HE were treated with 13.7% oxygen concentration, and the rats were weighted in the next day during the test period. After the experiment, the rats were killed. Their perirenal and epididymal adipose tissue were stripped and weighted. The changes of adipocyte diameter were observed by HE staining. Western blot detected the protein expression of HIF-1α and Glut-1 in adipose tissue. Results: 4-week hypoxic and exercise can significantly reduce the weight and increase of rats (P＜0.05). The total fat content of the rats in exercise groups was significantly lower than that of other groups (P＜0.05), while showed no significant difference between the two exercise groups (P＞0.05). The adipocyte diameter in each group was significantly lower than that in the control group (P＜0.05). Exercise and hypoxia can significantly reduce the expression of HIF-1α in adipose tissue (P＜0.05), which has no significant effect on the protein expression of Glut-1 (P＞0.05). Conclusion: From the perspective of slowing down the body weight gain and fat content, the effect of weight loss in normoxic exercise and hypoxic exercise are better than that of pure hypoxic exposure. Both hypoxia and exercise can significantly improve the status of anoxia in adipose tissue, but have no obvious effect on glucose metabolism. Normoxic exercise is more beneficial to improve the anoxia of adipose tissue in individuals with insulin resistance.

Key words: hypoxic exercise, insulin resistance, anoxia, adipose tissue