Resistin Changes Following Aerobic Exercise and its Relationship With Fertility in Male Rats With Type 2 Diabetes

 Resistin is secreted by adipose tissue and could be the link between diabetes and infertility. This study aimed to investigate the alteration of resistin following aerobic exercise training in diabetic rats and its possible interaction with sperm parameters.

 In this experimental study, 30 male Wistar rats (age: 56 days, weight: 200-250g) were randomly divided equally into three groups of healthy control, diabetic control, and diabetic aerobic exercises. Diabetes was induced with a unique intraperitoneal injection (65 mg/kg body weight) of streptozotocin. Seven days after the injection and after 12 hours of fasting, the animals with blood glucose levels of ≥250 mg/dL were considered diabetic. Seven days after the induction of diabetes, the animals in the exercise group were subjected to progressive aerobic training (treadmill running for 1 h, 27 m/min, 5 d/wk). After 10 weeks of exercise, the sperm quality and resistin concentrations were measured. The obtained data were compared using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) (P<0.05).

The induction of diabetes significantly decreased sperm count (P=0.001), motility (P=0.001), viability (P=0.001), and morphology (P=0.01). The sperm parameters, such as count (P=0.03) and viability (P=0.002) were significantly higher in the diabetic exercise group, compared to the diabetic sedentary group. No significant changes were found in resistin levels between diabetic exercise and diabetic sedentary groups (P=0.40).

 The collected results indicated that the 10-week aerobic training regimen improved sperm quality, independent of changes in resistin levels, in type 2 diabetes mellitus rat models.