Effect of endurance swimming training during pregnancy on histology and apoptotic index of rat's liver

The studies have reported that exercise induced apoptosis in various tissues. The abnormal regulation of apoptosis contributes to the progression of pathological processes in the placenta and effects on embryo development. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of swimming endurance training during pregnancy on apoptosis induction in pregnant rat's liver. Sixteen female Wistar rats with an average weight of 200 ± 20 grams were divided into two groups: swimming and control. The rats of training group were forced from first day of pregnancy to delivery in a particular pool. The time of training in first day of pregnancy was 10 min and this time in second week reached to 60 min by increasing of 5 min per day. The time of 60 min continued to end of third week. The sampling of the rat's liver was performed two days after delivery and the liver apoptotic index was determined with TUNEL technique. Statistical analysis of the data was done using independent t-test (α≤ 0.05). The results of study showed that swimming endurance training did not induce significant change in liver apoptosis (p < 0.424). The mean of apoptosis in control and training groups was %7.40 and %8.60 respectively. But 3-wk period of swimming training induced significantly minor increase in the amount of post pregnancy weight gain compared to the control group (p < 0.001). In addition, it was observed non-significant decrease in weight of training groups rat's liver compared to the control group (p = 1.00). It seems that endurance swimming training during pregnancy has no anguishing effect on apoptosis induction in liver and it is considered as safe exercise way in the improvement of mother and infant health.