Effect of eight weeks sprint interval training on VEGF rate in aged rats skeletal muscle tissue

The poor performance of capillary system and reduce in VEGF amount can be mentioned as one of the physiological complications that is caused by aging. Sprint training by more using fibers can be effective in improving performance of older people .The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of eight-week sprint interval training on VEGF amount of soleus muscle tissue and EDL in old Wistar male rats.

A total of twenty aged wistar rats with average weight of 489±43.72 (gr) were prepared and after one week familiarization with the laboratory conditions, were randomly divided into two groups: training (n=10) and control (n=10). SIT Training was included incremental and intermittent running on treadmill that performed three-four times in the week for eight weeks. Then were isolated the soleus and Extensor Digitorum Longus (EDL) muscles. Finally, we used western blot method to measure protein changes in the muscle tissue and t-test evaluating the information.

Difference between VEGF amount in control group and training group in both fast-twitch (p≤0.05) and slow-twitch muscles (p≤0.05) was significant.

The amount of capillarization in type II fibers have shown more decreases in comparison with type I fibers because of aging, therefor according to the result of this study it can be concluded that sprint interval training may be a proper stimulus to angiogenesis and leads to improvement of its metabolic properties.