Protective Role of Training and Selenium Consumption Against Renal Toxicity Induced by Cadmium in Rats

Cadmium is a toxic metal, which can cause damage to the renal tissue. Various studies have suggested the protective role of training and selenium as a cofactor involved in the production of antioxidants in acute and chronic kidney disease, although the molecular-cellular mechanism of these two interventions is still not fully understood in the renal tissue.

The aim of this study was to investigate the protective effects of training and selenium consumption on the renal tissue of cadmium-poisoned rats.

In this experimental study, 40 rats were randomly assigned into eight groups of five rats, including: (1) control, (2) sham, (3) cadmium, (4) cadmium + selenium, (5) cadmium + continuous training, (6) cadmium + high intensity interval training (HIIT), (7) cadmium + continuoustraining + selenium, and (8) cadmium + HIIT + selenium. During eight weeks, rats in groups 3 - 8 received 2 mg/kg of cadmium peritoneally daily and rats in groups 4, 7, and 8 received 0.23 mg/kg of selenium per day, peritoneally. Also, rats in groups 5 - 8 were given three sessions of HIIT (with 80 - 110 percentage of maximum speed) and continuous training (with 50% to 75% of maximum speed) for three sessions per week. Shapiro-Wilk, one-way ANOVA, two-way ANOVA, and Bonferroni’s post hoc tests were used to analyze the findings. The significance level was considered at 0.05.

Continuous training had a significant effect on reduction of albumin (ALB) (P = 0.001) and total bilirubin (TBIL) (P = 0.001), in addition, HIIT had a significant effect on reduction of ALB (P = 0.001) and TBIL (P = 0.04). The results of the two-way ANOVA test showed that selenium had a significant effect on the reduction of ALB (P = 0.001), TBIL (P = 0.001), and histidine ammonia-lyase (HAL) (P = 0.001). In addition, training with selenium had interactive effects on the reduction of TBIL (P = 0.004) and HAL (P = 0.001).

It seems that continuous training and HIIT, along with selenium consumption, have protective effects on the renal tissue of cadmium-poisoned rats.