Effects of acute eccentric exercise on serum vascular endothelial growth factor and endostatin concentration in male wistar rats

Angiogenesis is the formation of new blood vessels from an existing vascular bed. This process can facilitate the oxygen delivery to active muscles. Studies have shown that acute exercise can affect the process of angiogenesis. However, the role of the type of contraction that is used in exercise, especially eccentric contraction, in angiogenesis process is not yet clear. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of eccentric exercise on serum levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and Endostatin in male wistar rats. 36 male wistar rats (age= 49±7, weight=290±10) were used in this study. The rats were divided into two groups: the experimental group (eccentric exercise group) (n = 24) and the control group (n = 12). Also, the experiment group was subdivided immediately after the exercise (n = 12) and 24 hours after the exercise (n = 12). The eccentric exercise involved running on a treadmill with the speed of 20 m/s and -160 slopes for 45 minutes. Immediately and 24 hours after the exercise, blood sample was drawn from the descending aortafor measurement of serum VEGF and endostatin. Serum VEGF and endostatin were measured by ELISA method. Results of the study showed that immediately and 24 hours after the exercise the serum levels of VEGF decreased 28% and 12%, respectively (pı0.05) Also, serum levels ofendostatin decreased 26% and 38%, immediately and 24 hours after the exercise, respectively (pı0.05). Additionally, VEGF/endostatin ratio decreased immediately after the exercise (p=0.02) and increased significantly 24 hours after the exercise (p=0.001).Discussion and The finding of this study showed that the main factors that are involved in angiogenesis decreased significantly immediately after the eccentric exercise This finding may provide new insights into better comprehension of mechanisms related to changes of capillary density in response to eccentric training.