Investigating the Effect of Mid-Term of Aerobic Exercise on Apoptosis Biomarkers in the Cardiomyocytes of Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rats

Background & Objective: Apoptosis plays a major role in the process of diabetes-induced heart disease, but the effects of aerobic intermediate exercises on the status of apoptosis in diabetics’ cardiomyocytes are unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of 4-week aerobic exercise on apoptosis biomarkers in the cardiomyocytes of Streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Material&Methods: 40 adult rats were randomly assigned to 4 groups, including: Control, Control¬+¬Diabetes, Exercise and Exercise + Diabetes. To induce diabetes intraperitoneal injection of Streptozotocin (STZ) solution (55mg/kg) was used. 14 days after STZ injection, the level of fasting blood glucose was measured by a glucometer. After confirming diabetes induction, the exercise protocol was performed for 4 weeks. The training groups ran for 4 weeks (5sessions/week) at a speed of 15-18 m/min and 25 to 44 minutes. 48 hours after the last training session, the subjects were anesthetized and the cardiac muscle was removed. The sFas, FasL and Bcl-2 were measured by ELISA. Results: Induction of diabetes in the control group, resulted in a significant increase in sFas and FasL levels and insignificantly increase in sFas/FasL and also insignificantly decrease in Bcl-2 levels (p