The Effect of Aerobic Training on Apoptosis and Growth Factors in Old Rats’ Hearts

Aging is characterized by an increase in apoptosis. It seems that aerobic training can reduce the apoptosis. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of aerobic training on apoptosis and growth factors in the old rats’ hearts. 24 male Wistar rats were divided into 3 groups: high intensity training (HIT=8), moderate intensity training (MCT=8) and control (CO=8). After two weeks of adaptation, rats participated in aerobic training for 6 weeks. The rats’ hearts were extracted 48 hours after the last training session. Bax and Bcl-2 gene expressions were analyzed by the Real-Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). One-way analysis of variance was used for data analysis (P<0.05). The results showed that Bax gene expression in MCT group insignificantly increased (0.261) but in HIT group significantly increased (0.001) compared with the control group. Bcl-2 gene levels in MCT group (0.978) and HIT group (0.278) insignificantly increased compared with the control group. IGF-1 in MCT group (0.175) and HIT group (0.537) increased compared with the control group, but this increase was not significant. According to the results, 6 weeks of training with moderate and high intensity insignificantly increased the expression of Bcl-2 and IGF-1 in elderly rats and significantly increased Bax in high intensity training group and insignificantly increased it in the moderate intensity group.