Effects of 8 weeks of moderate continuous and intensive interval training on the expression of Sirtuin-1 and long-chain Acyl-CoA dehydrogenase gene in the heart tissue of obese rats

Obese and overweight people are always at risk of cardiovascular diseases. The purpose of this study was to study the effect of 8 weeks of low intensity continuous and high intensity interval training on sirtuin-1 (SIRT1) and long-chain Acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (LCAD) gene in the heart tissue of the obese rats.

Twenty one Sprague - Dawley obese rats were selected and randomly divided into three groups (n=7) including (1) high intensity interval training (HIIT), (2) low intensity continuous training, and (3) control groups. Interval and continuous training groups were trained three sessions per week with intensity of 80 to 85 and 50 to 55 percent of the maximum running speed on a treadmill for 8 weeks. After RNA extraction from cardiac tissue and cDNA synthesis, the expression of SIRT1 and LCAD genes was quantitatively calculated using real time-PCR. For statistical analysis the Shapiro-Wilk, covariance analysis, one-way ANOVA, and Benferoni post hoc tests were used to analyze data at a significant level of p≤0.05.

The expression of SIRT1 gene in HIIT group (p=0.001) and low intensity continuous training (p=0.001) was significantly higher than control group; Moreover, the expression of LCAD gene in the HIIT group was significantly higher than control group (p=0.001) and low intensity continuous training (p=0.001). On the other hand, the weight of the rats in the HIIT group in the post-test was significantly lower than control group (p=0.001) and low intensity continuous training (p=0.001).

It seems that HIIT as compare to low intensity continuous training has more positive effect on improvement of SIRT1 and LCAD genes expression in the heart tissue of the obese rats.