The study of effect an endurance exercise on histological changes of dentate gyrus region of the hippocampus in diabetic male Wistar Rats

Type 1 diabetes is the most common metabolic disease which is associated with high blood glucose and can cause disorders in the Central nervous system. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the protective effect of endurance training on histology of dentate gyrus region of the hippocampus of rats with experimental diabetes. In this experimental study, 20 adult male Wistar rats, 10 weeks of age and weight average 245±9.4 g were randomly divided into four groups: Diabetic, trained diabetes, healthy control and the healthy trained groups. Diabetes was induced by intraperitoneal injection of Streptozotocin (45 mg/kg). 48 h after Streptozotocin injection and diabetes confirmation, the moderate endurance activity was performed under 50-55% Maximal oxygen uptake for a
six-week period and 5 sessions in a week. 24 hours after the last training session, rats were anesthetized and sacrificed and then the hippocampus was separated. Sections with 5-6micron were prepared and stained with Hematoxylin and Eosin staining method. The results showed that blood glucose levels had lower level in diabetic trained rats compared to diabetic control animals (P<0.05). Histological results demonstrated that the numbers of astrocytes and oligodendrocytes were increased in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus after endurance training compared to the control group, while the number of microglial cells were significantly decreased (P<0.05). Our findings confirmed the anti-hyperglycemia and anti-neurodegenerative effects of endurance exercise in diabetes status. So, it seems that physical activity plays an important role on improvement of the nervous complications in type 1 diabetes patients