The Effect of Eight Weeks of High-Interval Training on Activin Receptor Type II in Heart and Plasma Levels of Myostatin in Male Rats

Exercise trainings have beneficial effects on myocardium by changing the concentration of growth factors and their receptors. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of eight weeks of high-intensity interval training on activin receptor type II in heart and plasma levels of myostatin in male rats.

After the familiarization period, twenty male rats with the limitation of three months of age were randomly divided to control (n = 10) and high-intensity interval training (n=10) groups. High-intensity interval training was continued for eight weeks, five sessions in each week and each session lasted 80 minutes with 85-90 percent intensity of rats’ power with 20-degree ramp. Activin receptor type II in the myocardial left ventricle was measured using immunohistochemistry method, and myostatin was measured by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. The data were analyzed using independent-samples t test at the statistically significant level of P < 0.050.

In between groups comparison, there was a significant difference between the high-intensity interval training and control groups in myostatin variable (P = 0.001). There was no significant difference between the groups in myocardium activin receptor type II (P = 0.820).

 It cautiously seems that high-intensity interval training have desirable effects on reducing myostatin, but it has no effect on heart activin receptor type II.