Studying the Effect of Six Weeks of Aerobic Exercise on the Protein Levels of DCX and AMPA in the Hippocampus of Diabetic Rats

One of the complications of type 2 diabetes is the development of neurocognitive disorders, and DCX and AMPA may be involved in this disorder. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of aerobic exercise on the DCX and AMPA in the hippocampus of rats with type 2 diabetes.

32 eight-week-old male rats were divided into control (C), diabetes (D), diabetes-exercise (DT), and exercise (T) groups. Diabetes was induced by streptozotocin injection. The exercise was carried out for six weeks. Finally, the rats were dissected, and their hippocampus tissue was extracted. Proteins were measured by the ELISA method.

There was nonsignificant difference between the DCX of the C group and the T and DT groups (p>0.05). But there was a significant difference between the DCX of the C and diabetic groups (p =0.05). Also, a significant difference was observed between the diabetic groups and the T group (p<0.05). AMPA in diabetic groups were significantly lower than in C and T groups (p<0.05) While the difference between C and T groups and D and DT groups was not significant (p>0.05). Also, a significant negative correlation was observed between AMPA and DCX with blood glucose.

Diabetes reduces the AMPA and DCX but exercise nonsignificantly reduces the effect of diabetes on those. According to the appropriate duration of exercise, there is a possibility that due to the significant negative correlation between these proteins and glucose, the intensity of exercise can significantly reduce the negative effect of diabetes on those.