Effect of Caffeine and Genistein Supplement on Cardiac Levels of Nitric Oxide and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor in Wistar Rats, Following an Acute Swimming Exercise

Aims: Exercise activity and the use of herbal supplements are effective in regulating vascular contraction by influencing on angiogenesis factors. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of caffeine and genistein supplement on cardiac levels of nitric oxide (NO) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in wistar rats, following an acute swimming exercise.
In this experimental study, 49 male Wistar 8-10-week rats were randomly divided into 7 groups of control, saline, acute exercise, caffeine, genistein, acute swimming exercise plus caffeine, and acute swimming exercises plus genistein (7 rats in each group). Acute exercise included 90 minutes swimming. Dietary supplement groups, taked the caffeine at a rate of 5mg/kg of body weight by gavage and Genistein in the amount of 100mg/kg of body weight by intra peritoneal injection. Two hours after the end of the training session, the levels of NO and VEGF were measured by ELISA. Data were analyzed by SPSS 20 software using one-way ANOVA.
Findings: 90 minutes swimming exercise caused a significant increase in cardiac levels of NO and VEGF in acute exercise, acute exercise plus caffeine, acute exercise plus genistein in comparison to the control and saline groups (p=0.01), while supplementation of caffeine or genistein alone did not significantly increase the levels of cardiac level of these factors compared to control and saline groups.
The supplementation of caffeine and genistein increases the levels of NO and VEGF of the heart tissue of rats following an acute swimming session.