The Effect of 8 Weeks Continuous Endurance and High Intensity Interval Training on Cardiac Tissue foxO1 and foxO3a Expression Levels in Male Rats

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of continuous endurance training (CET) and high intensity interval training (HIIT) on the gene expression of foxO1 and foxO3 a in male rats’cardiac tissue.

18 rats were studied under standard condition. CET protocol was performed 5 sessions per week at 70% VO2 max and HIIT protocolwas performed 3 sessionsper week at 90% VO2 max for two minutes in the first and second weeks and then 110% VO2 max for the rest of the training period. Low intensity intervals were performed at 40% VO2 max for two minutes since the first week to the end of the third week and 30% VO2 max for the rest of the training period. Finally, foxO1 and foxO3a gene expression level were assessed by Real time - PCR and using the formula 2-ΔΔct. The results were evaluated using Kruskal-Wallis test with a significance level of P < 0.05.

The results show that compared to control group, CET caused a significant reduction in foxO1 and foxO3a gene expression (both P=0.004). HIIT caused a significant reduction in foxO3a gene expression (P=0.004) but had no significant effect on reduction of foxO1 gene expression level(P=0.055). The levels of genes expression were significantly differed in the two experimental groups (P=0.002).

According to the results, both training protocols of the presentstudy may lead to effective training adaptations