High intensity interval training increases the expression of hippocampus BDNF gene and decreases the serum tnf-α in Diabetic Rat

Background: Diabetics have many disabilities, including neuronal damege hippocampus, and BDNF is an effective factor in this field. This factor has the most impact on the hippocampus, also TNF-α is an inflammatory factor that increases in diabetes, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of 6 weeks of High Intensity interval training on the gene expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the hippocampus of male Wistar rats.

Methods: For this study, 48 male Wistar rats (4 weeks old) with 150± 10 g weight were categorized in 4 groups of: diabetic rats (n= 12), exercise diabetic (n= 12), control (n= 12) and exercise control (n= 12). For induction of diabetes, peritoneal injection of STZ solution (50 mg/kg) was used. After a week of familiarization with the environment and practice, high Intensity interval training protocol consisted of 3 days of training per week for 6 weeks with 50% to 110% of maximum oxygen consumption was performed. 24 hours after the completion of the exercise, the functional test was taken and the animals were autopsy 48 hours after the functional test. Finally, BDNF gene expression was evaluated using Real Time PCR technique.

Results: Regarding the results, it was found that the high Intensity interval training intensified the expression of the BDNF gene and decreased the expression of the TNF-α protein. also The weight gain of the hippocampus has been observed along with increased expression of BDNF gene in the diabetic high Intensity interval training group.

Conclusion: Exercise can help prevent hippocampus tissue loss, and also prevent memory damage that caused by diabetes. Also, high Intensity interval training are effective in maintaining the physical fitness of diabetics, therefore high Intensity interval training are recommended for improvement in the physical condition and life of diabetics.