Objective: This study aims to determine the effect of Hibiscus sabdariffa Linn. (HSL) administration on the interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) levels in rat heart. Overtraining was proven to increase the IL-6 and TNF-α levels in the blood, and HSL had anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties. However, no studies have been conducted on the effect of methanolic extract of HSL administration on the IL-6 and TNF-α levels in overtrained rat heart.
Methods: This study used 25 male adult Wistar rats aged 8–10 w and weighing 200–250 g. The rats were randomly divided into five groups: control (C), control H. sabdariffa Linn (C+HSL), overtraining (OT), overtraining H. sabdariffa Linn (OT+HSL), and aerobic (A). Treatment was given 5 times a week for 11 w. At the end of the study, the IL-6 and TNF-α levels were measured using a standard ELISA kit.
Results: IL-6 and TNF-α levels in the heart were the highest in the overtraining group. The group that received HSL administration showed the lowest TNF-α and IL-6 levels.
Conclusion: HSL could be a used to protect the heart from an inflammatory state, particularly in an overtraining condition.
Background. Hyperglycemia is a major risk factor for endothelial dysfunction. Endothelial dysfunction is associated with the inability of endothelial cells to maintain homeostasis of the cardiovascular system. Regular exercise may be considered as an effective and low-cost nonpharmacological tool for improving vascular function, though there is no agreement on the best type of exercise. Objectives. To determine how high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT) may prevent endothelial dysfunction under hyperglycemic conditions, and to compare these two interventions. Method. Twenty-four eight-week-old male Wistar rats were randomly assigned into four groups: healthy nonexercising control (C), hyperglycemic control (HG-C), hyperglycemic + HIIT (HG-IT), and hyperglycemic + MICT (HG-CT). Hyperglycemia was induced by a single injection of streptozotocin. Hyperglycemic animals were subjected to HIIT or MICT protocols six days a week for six weeks. Decapitation was performed the day after the exercise protocols were completed. The ascending aorta (until the abdominal artery) was examined. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to measure the glucagon-likepeptide-1 (GLP-1), endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα) levels. A colorimetric assay was used to measure superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to measure the expression of the receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE) and nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB). Hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining was used to histologically analyze the aortas. Results. There was a significantly higher level of GLP-1 and lower expression of RAGE, NF-κB, and TNFα in the HG-IT and HG-CT group compared to the HG-C group. Microscopic examination of aortic tissue showed a better tissue arrangement in both treatment groups than in the HG-C group. Except for the MDA level, there were no significant differences in any of the measured parameters between the HG-IT and HG-CT groups. Conclusion. Under hyperglycemic conditions, both HIIT and MICT have a protective role against endothelial dysfunction.
BACKGROUND: Exposure to environmental enrichment has a positive effect on brain function, including improved cognition. Environmental enrichment has many aspects, including social interactions, object stimulations, and physical activities. Exercise and environmental enrichment can be considered to improve cognitive function with different underlying mechanisms. This study aims to compare the effects of environmental enrichment and aerobic exercise at both synaptic and whole-organism levels using synapyophysin as a measure of synaptic physiology and spatial memory as a measure of cognitive function.METHODS: A six-week in vivo experimental study on 15, 6-month old male Wistar rats randomly divided into three groups (n=5): aerobic group (A), enriched environment group (EE), and enriched with an aerobic or combined group (EEA). All rats were tested four times in the Water-E maze (WEM) task at weeks 0, 2, 4, and 6 of the study. We used immunohistochemistry to determine the synaptophysin expression in hippocampal CA1 region.RESULTS: Based on synaptophysin immunostaining, there were higher optical density scores for synaptophysin in hippocampal CA1 region following EEA, but there were no statistically significant differences between groups (ANOVA test, p>0.05). The spatial memory test showed there were significantly reduced travel time and total errors from the 2nd and 4th weeks in the EEA group, respectively (p<0.05).CONCLUSION: The combination of enriched environment and aerobic exercise seems to rapidly improve spatial memory and enhances the presynaptic protein, synaptophysin in hippocampal CA1 region.KEYWORDS: aerobic exercise, environmental enrichment, spatial memory, synaptophysin, Water-E maze
Objective: Studies have shown that prolonged physical exercise increases ventricular wall mass. Physiologically, this increase is followed by an increase of mitochondrial biogenesis. However, increases of ventricular mass in some cardiovascular diseases are not followed by an increase of PPARγ coactivator-1α (PGC-1α), a marker of mitochondrial biogenesis. No data regarding cardiac PGC-1α during an excessive physical exercise program that causes pathological conditions (overtraining) are available. Thus, we aimed to determine the effect of overtraining on cardiac hypertrophy index and PGC-1α level. Furthermore, we aimed to elucidate the cardio protective effect of Hibiscus sabdariffa Linn. (HSL) administration on these cardiac parameters.
Methods: Twenty-five male adult Wistar rats aged 8–10 w were randomly divided into five groups: control (C), control-HSL (C-HSL), aerobic training (A), overtraining (OT), and overtraining-HSL (OT-HSL). Treatments were conducted five times a week, for 11 w. Differences in heart mass were determined by measuring ratios of ventricular weight to body weight (hypertrophy index). PGC-1α levels were measured using an ELISA method.
Results: We found that overtraining increased ventricular wall mass; however, it did not increase cardiac PGC-1α levels, whereas mild-aerobic exercise robustly increased cardiac levels of PGC-1α. Furthermore, administration of a methanol extract of HSL did not show any significant effect on cardiac mass or PGC-1α level.
Conclusion: Thus, our study showed that ventricular hypertrophy elicited by overtraining conditions was not followed by an increase in cardiac PGC-1α, and administration of H. sabdariffa extract did not ameliorate this condition.
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