Aerobic Exercise Training Exerts Beneficial Effects Upon Oxidative Metabolism and Non-Enzymatic Antioxidant Defense in the Liver of Leptin Deficiency Mice

Abstract

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common forms of liver disease, which is associated with several etiological factors, including stress and dysfunction in oxidative metabolism. However, studies showed that aerobic exercise training (AET) can combat the oxidative stress (OS) and improves mitochondrial functionality in the NAFLD. To test the hypothesis that AET improves oxidative metabolism and antioxidant defense in the liver of ob/ob mice. Male ob/ob mice with eight weeks old were separated into two groups: the sedentary group (S), n=7, and the trained group (T), n=7. The T mice were submitted to an 8-week protocol of AET at 60% of the maximum velocity achieved in the running capacity test. Before AET, no difference was observed in running test between the groups (S=10.4 ± 0.7 min vs. T= 13 ± 0.47 min). However, after AET, the running capacity was increased in the T group (12.8 ± 0.87 min) compared to the S group (7.2 ± 0.63 min). In skeletal muscle, the T group (26.91 ± 1.12 U/mg of protein) showed higher citrate synthase activity compared with the S group (19.28 ± 0.88 U/mg of protein) (p =0.006). In the analysis of BW evolution, significant reductions were seen in the T group as of the fourth week when compared to the S group. In addition, food intake was not significant different between the groups. Significant increases were observed in the activity of enzymes citrate synthase (p=0.004) and β-HAD (p=0.01) as well as in PGC-1α gene expression (p=0.002) in the liver of T group. The levels of TBARs and carbonyls, as well as SOD, CAT and GST were not different between the groups. However, in the nonenzymatic antioxidant system, we found that the T group had higher sulfhydryl (p = 0.02), GSH (p=0.001) and GSH/GSSG (p=0.02) activity. In conclusion, the AET improved body weight evolution and the aerobic capacity, increased the response of oxidative metabolism markers in the liver such as PGC-1α gene expression and citrate synthase and β-HAD enzyme activities in ob/ob mice. In addition, AET improved the non-enzymatic antioxidant defense and did not change the enzymatic defense.

Aerobic Physical Exercise Improves Exercise Tolerance and Fasting Glycemia Independent of Body Weight Change in Obese Females

“…The growing number of obese women and the negative repercussions for health has motivated the search for understanding the prevention and treatment of obesity. Despite that our group previously reported a reduction in body weight gain in male ob/ob mice with the same age and exercise protocol as applied here ( 28 , 29 ), we revealed that APE did not avoid the excessive body weight gain in female ob/ob mice. We also observed that females ob/ob of the present study seem to gain more weight than males from our previous study ( 28 , 29 ).…”

“…Despite that our group previously reported a reduction in body weight gain in male ob/ob mice with the same age and exercise protocol as applied here ( 28 , 29 ), we revealed that APE did not avoid the excessive body weight gain in female ob/ob mice. We also observed that females ob/ob of the present study seem to gain more weight than males from our previous study ( 28 , 29 ). The sex-dependent obesity response in ob/ob mice has been characterized in studies with metabolomic and lipidomic analysis ( 30 , 31 ), and our research adds novel knowledge by suggesting that the APE-mediated benefits on the body weight of ob/ob mice is also sex dependent, which reinforces the importance of considering the differences between the sexes for the management of body weight.…”

Effects of Long‐Term Regular Continuous and Intermittent Walking on Oxidative Stress, Metabolic Profile, Heart Rate Variability, and Blood Pressure in Older Adults with Hypertension

“…It has been proved that regular exercise exerts a vital role in alleviating oxidative stress, improving oxidative metabolism, and reducing inflammation [ 35 ]. Regular exercise effectively improves antioxidant capacity in the skeletal muscles, as evidenced by the increased activity of glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase posttraining [ 36 ].…”

Evidence-Based Aerobic Exercise Training in Metabolic-Associated Fatty Liver Disease: Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis

“…Many studies performed on animals models have indicated that aerobic exercise improves hepatic lipid metabolism in NAFLD by affecting lipid synthesis, reducing mitochondrial depended apoptosis, improving oxidative metabolism and decreasing steatosis and hepatic inflammation [ 12 , 13 ]. Moreover, previous meta-analyses highlight a range of beneficial effects of physical exercise on liver fat [ 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ].…”