Journal of Exercise Physiology in Special Populations

The effect of moderate-intensity aerobic training on reducing cardiac tissue inflammation in male diabetic Wistar rats

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University, Tehran

Abstract

Purpose:
Myocardial inflammation is an effective factor in the development of diabetic cardiomyopathy, which increases the risk of mortality in patients. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of moderate-intensity aerobic training on reducing cardiac tissue inflammation in male diabetic Wistar rats..
Materials and Methods:
18 male Wistar rats weighing (180±20) grams were divided into 3 groups: healthy control (6 rats), diabetic control (6 rats), and diabetic with aerobic training (6 rats). Moderate-intensity aerobic training was performed by running on a treadmill with zero incline for 6 weeks, 5 days a week. NF-κB protein levels were measured by Western blotting. For statistical data analysis, paired t-test, one-way analysis of variance, and Tukey's post hoc test were used at P≤0.05 level using SPSS22 software.
Results:
The results showed that six weeks of moderate-intensity aerobic training resulted in a significant decrease in fasting blood sugar in the diabetic group with training from (131±377) to (81±249) mg/dL (P=0.017). This decrease was not observed in the other two groups. The level of NF-κB protein in the aerobic training group (1.18±0.007) was significantly reduced compared to the diabetic control group (1.88±0.09) (P ≤0.001) and its values were close to the healthy group.
Conclusion
Aerobic exercise reduced fasting blood glucose and NF-κB protein levels in male diabetic Wistar rats. These results suggest that aerobic training may be a promising non-pharmacological approach to diabetes management by modulating cardiac inflammatory signaling and improving blood glucose control.


Keywords:
Cardiomyopathy, aerobic training, hyperglycemia, NF-κB

Keywords

  1. Gharakhanlou BJ, Bonab SB. The effect of 12 weeks of training in water on serum levels of SIRT1 and FGF-21, glycemic index, and lipid profile in patients with type 2 diabetes. International Journal of Diabetes in Developing Countries. 2022;42:727-734. [In Persian]
  2. Rezaeimanesh D, Farsani PA. The effect of an 8-week selected aquatic aerobic training period on plasma Leptin and insulin resistance in men with type 2 diabetes. Journal of Advanced Pharmacy Education & Research| Apr-Jun. 2019;19(S2):121-124. [In Persian]
  3. Bai T, Wang F, Mellen N, Zheng Y, Cai L. Diabetic cardiomyopathy: role of the E3 ubiquitin ligase. American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism. 2016;310(7):E473-E83.
  4. Trikkalinou A, Papazafiropoulou AK, Melidonis A. Type 2 diabetes and quality of life. World journal of diabetes. 2017;8(4):120-129.
  5. Wu Q-J, Zhang T-N, Chen H-H, Yu X-F, Lv J-L, Liu Y-Y, et al. The sirtuin family in health and disease. Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy. 2022;7(1):402.
  6. Angel Gallego-Selles A, Galvan-Alvarez V, Martinez-Canton M, Garcia-Gonzalez E, Morales-Alamo D, Santana A, et al. Fast regulation of the NF-κB signalling pathway in human skeletal muscle revealed by high-intensity exercise and ischaemia at exhaustion: Role of oxygenation and metabolite accumulation. Redox Biology. 2022;55:102398.
  7. Lorenzo O, et al. Potential role of nuclear factor B in diabetic cardiomyopathy. Mediators of inflammation. 2011;652097:1-9. doi:10.1155/2011/652097.
  8. Filipe Fernandes Stoye-Conti, Maria-Claudia Irigoyen, Michelle Sartori, Amanda Aparecida Ribeiro, Fernando dos Santos, Jacqueline Freire Machi, Diego Mendrot Taboas Figueroa, Bruno Rodrigues and Kátia De Angelis. Aerobic Training Is Better Than Resistance Training on Cardiac Function and Autonomic Modulation in Female ob/ob Mice. Frontiers in Physiology. 2019;10(1464):1-10.
  9. Jingjing Liu, Jiao Lu, Liumei Zhang, Yuting Liu, Yuan Zhang, Yaran Gao, Xinmeng Yuan, Mengqi Xiang, Qiang Tang. The combination of exercise and metformin inhibits TGF-β1/Smad pathway to attenuate myocardial fibrosis in db/db mice by reducing NF-κB–mediated inflammatory response. Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy. 2023;157(114080):1-9.
  10. Liu HW, Kao HH, Wu CH. Exercise training upregulates SIRT-1 to attenuate inflammation and metabolic dysfunction in kidney and liver of diabetic db/db Nutrition & metabolism. 2019;16(1):1-10.
  11. Shaowu Zhang, Guohui Yu, Maohua Ping, Qing Du, Xia Guo. Effects of aerobic exercise on myocardial injury, NF-B expression, glucolipid metabolism and inflammatory factors in rats with coronary heart disease. Clinics (Sao Paulo). 2024;79:100386. doi:10.1016/j.clinsp.2024.100386.
  12. Rami M, Azimpour M, Khoramipour K. The effect of 8 weeks of high intensity interval training on the levels of Wnt and NF-κB proteins in the heart tissue of male wistar rats with type 2 diabetes. J Sport Exe Physiol. 2022;15(4):19-30. [in Persian]. [DOI: 10.52547/JOEPPA.15.4.19]
  13. Mobasher M, Sasani P, Al-e-Davood SJ, Aramesh K, Larijani B. Revision of the guideline for ethical use of animals. IJMEHM. 2012;5:70-111. [In Persian]
  14. Brian L. Furman. Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Models in Mice and Rats. Curr Protoc. 2021;1(e78):1-21. [doi: 10.1002/cpz1.78]
  15. Khajehlandi M, Bolboli L, Siahkuhian M, Rami M, Tabandeh M, Khoramipour K, et al. Endurance Training Regulates Expression of Some Angiogenesis-Related Genes in Cardiac Tissue of Experimentally Induced Diabetic Rats. Biomolecules. 2021;11(498):1-9. [In Persian]
  16. Khakdan S, Delfan M, Heydarpour Meymeh M, Kazerouni F, Ghaedi H, Shanaki M, et al. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) effectively enhances heart function via miR-195 dependent cardiomyopathy reduction in high-fat high-fructose diet-induced diabetic rats. Arch Physiol Biochem. 2018;126(3):250-7. [In Persian]
  17. Sharma M, Chan Hor, Charlie A. Lavilla Jr, Mylene M. Uy, Froemming G Ruth, et al. Induction of a single dose of streptozotocin (50 mg) in rat model causes insulin resistance with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Fundam Clin Pharmacol. 2023;37:769–778. [DOI: 10.1111/fcp.12892]
  18. Bedford TG, Tipton CM, Wilson NC, Oppliger RA, Gisolfi CV. Maximum oxygen consumption of rats and its changes with various experimental procedures. J Appl Physiol. 1979;47(6):1278-83. [DOI: 10.1152/jappl.1979.47.6.1278]
  19. Babaei H, Alibabrdel M, Asadian S, Siavashi V, Jabarpour M, Nassiri SM. Increased circulation mobilization of endothelial progenitor cells in preterm infants with retinopathy of prematurity. Jcb. 2018;119:6575-6583. [in Persian]. [DOI: 10.1002/jcb.26777]
  20. Jabarpour M, Siavashi V, Asadian S, Babaei H, Jafari SM, Nassiri SM. Hyperbilirubinemia-induced pro-angiogenic activity of infantile endothelial progenitor cells. Microvasc Res. 2018;118:49-56. [In Persian] [DOI: 10.1016/j.mvr.2018.02.005]
  21. Katherine R. Tuttle, Rajiv Agarwal, Charles E. Alpers, George L. Bakris, Frank C. Brosius, Peter Kolkhof and Jaime Uribarri. Molecular mechanisms and therapeutic targets for diabetic kidney disease. Kidney International. 2022;102:248–260.
  22. Jesús Fuentes-Antrás, Belén Picatoste, Elisa Ramírez, Jesús Egido, José Tuñón and Óscar Lorenzo. Targeting metabolic disturbance in the diabetic heart. Cardiovascular Diabetology. 2015;14(17):1-11.
  23. Bergantin LB. Diabetes and inflammatory diseases: An overview from the perspective of Ca2+/3′-5′-cyclic adenosine monophosphate World J Diabetes. 2021;12(6):767-779.
  24. Rahmati M, Taherabadi SJ. The effects of exercise training on Kinesin and GAP-43 expression in skeletal muscle fibers of STZ-induced diabetic rats. Scientific reports. 2021;11(1):1-9. [in Persian]
  25. Nikrooa H, Attarzadeh Hosseinia SR, Fathia M, Sardarb MA, Khazaeic M. The effect of aerobic, resistance, and combined training on PPAR-α, SIRT1 gene expression, and insulin resistance in high-fat diet-induced NAFLD male rats. J physbeh. 2020;227:1-7. [in Persian]
  26. Cunha VN, de Paula Lima M, Motta-Santos D, Pesquero JL, de Andrade RV, de Almeida JA, et al. Role of exercise intensity on GLUT4 content, aerobic fitness and fasting plasma glucose in type 2 diabetic mice. Cell Biochem Funct. 2015;33(7):435-42.
  27. Sheri R. Colberg, Ronald J. Sigal, Bo Fernhall, Judith G. Regensteiner, Bryan J. Blissmer, Richard R. Rubin, Lisa Chasan-Taber, Ann L. Albright, Barry Braun. Exercise and Type 2 Diabetes. Diabetes Care. 2010;33(12):e147–e167.
  28. Aryan Rezaee, Parham Rahmanian, Amirreza Nemati, Farima Sohrabifard, Fatemeh Karimi, Ali Elahinia, Ali Ranjbarpazuki, Rozhin Lashkarbolouki, Sadaf Dezfulian, Mohammad Arad Zandieh, Shokooh Salimimoghadam, Noushin Nabavi, Mohsen Rashidi, Afshin Taheriazam, Mehrdad Hashemi, Kiavash Hushmandi. NF-ĸB axis in diabetic neuropathy, cardiomyopathy and nephropathy: A roadmap from molecular intervention to therapeutic strategies. Heliyon. 2024;10(9):e29871.1-19.
  29. Hou J, Zheng D, Fung G, Deng H, Chen L, Liang J, Hu Y. Mangiferin suppressed advanced glycation end products (AGEs) through NF-κB deactivation and displayed anti-inflammatory effects in streptozotocin and high fat diet-diabetic cardiomyopathy rats. Can j physiol pharmacol. 2015;94(3):332-340.
  30. Ebrahimi M, Asgharpour H, Rezaeeshirazi R, Farzanegi P. The effect of one period of regular exercise training and atorvastatin drug on the expression of NF-кB gene in heart tissue of diabetic rats. Journal of Physiology of Movement & Health. 2023;3(2):38-48. [in Persian]
  31. Wang L, Lavier J, Hua W, Wang Y, Gong L, Wei H, et al. High-intensity interval training and moderate-intensity continuous training attenuate oxidative damage and promote myokine response in the skeletal muscle of ApoE KO mice on high-fat diet. Antioxidants (Basel). 2021;10(992):1-14. [DOI: 10.3390/antiox10070992]
  32. Ruo-Ying Li, Liang Guo. Exercise in Diabetic Nephropathy: Protective Effects and Molecular Mechanism. Int J Mol Sci. 2024;25:3605.
Journal of Exercise Physiology in Special Populations
Volume 2, Issue 4
March 2026
Pages 1-16