Antioxidant Effect of High Intensity Interval Training on Cadmium-Induced Cardiotoxicity in Rats

Cadmium is a heavy metal toxicant that effectively disturbs the body’s oxidant-antioxidant status; however, high intensity interval training (HIIT) hasbeenreported to improve antioxidant indices such as catalase (CAT)andglutathione peroxidase (GPX), which neutralize free radicals. The present study aimed to review the effect of HIIT on CAT and GPX gene expression in the heart tissue of rats with cadmium toxicity. Twenty-five male Sprague Dawley rats were selected and were divided into five groups, of five rats (1) control, (2) sham, (3) cadmium, (4) HIIT, and (5) HIIT and cadmium. During eight weeks, rats in groups 4 and 5 performed three sessions per week of HIIT and groups 3 and 5 received 2 mg/kg of cadmium daily in peritoneum. To analyze the findings of the research One-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post hoc tests were used (P0.05). Cadmium consumption had a significant effect on reduced CAT (P = 0.03) and GPX (P = 0.004). However, HIIT had a significant effect on increased CAT (P = 0.001) and GPX (P = 0.001). It appears that HIIT can improve the CAT and GPX gene expression in the heart tissue of cadmium-infected rats.