Document Type : Research Paper I Open Access I Released under CC BY-NC 4.0 license
Author
Corresponding Author, Department of Sports Sciences, Faculty of Humanities, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran.
Abstract
Introduction: The current study aimed to investigate the changes in asprosin protein expression in the liver, pancreas, heart, and soleus muscle of male diabetic rats after eight weeks of aerobic exercise and nettle supplementation.
Methods: 48 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into six groups (n=8 rats per group) including Control (C), Exercise (E), Diabetes (D) and Exercise + Diabetes (ED), Nettle + Diabetes (UD), Exercise + Nettle + Diabetes (EUD) groups. After the induction of diabetes in rats by streptozotocin injection, a continuous aerobic exercise protocol with moderate to vigorous intensity was implemented for eight weeks and five days a week. Nettle extract was administered via intragastric gavage at a dose of 150 mg per kg of body weight for eight weeks and five days a week. Blood samples were drawn 48 hours after the final training session. The asprosin protein expression was measured using the ELISA method and data was analyzed using Analysis of Covariance.
Results: The results showed that in all tissues, the asprosin was significantly increased in the diabetic group compared with the control group (P<0.05). In comparison to the diabetes group, the EUD group showed the greatest decrease in asprosin of all tissue compared with the ED and the UD groups (P<0.05), in such a way that in pancreatic tissue, it reached the level of the healthy control group, but changes in heart tissue were not significant. In comparison to the diabetes group, the reduction of asprosin in all tissues of the UD group was more than in the ED group, but the difference between these two groups was not significant.
Conclusion: Based on the findings, the expression of asprosin protein in the tissues of the liver, pancreas, heart, and soleus muscle is increased due to diabetes, and using a combination of aerobic exercises and nettle extract can reduce it. The synergistic effect of the combination of aerobic exercise and nettle was much better than either alone.
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