Effects of aerobic exercise and vitamin D supplementation on the expression of apoptosis genes BCL2, BAX, Caspase3 and BCL2/BAX ratio on lung in male rats exposed to hydrogen peroxide

Exercise is a strong physiological stimulus that can affect the lung apoptosis by in fluencing a number of extracellular and intracellular signaling pathways, directly or indirectly. This study was designed to determine the effects of aerobic exercise training alongside vitamin D supplementation on the expression of apoptosis genes BCL2, BAX, Caspase3 and BCL2/BAX ratio on lung cell apoptosis in male rats exposed to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2).

Fourty eight male rats were randomly assigned into 6 groups (n=8) including control, hydrogen peroxide (2H), hydrogen peroxide + vitamin D(2HD), hydrogen peroxide + aerobic exercise (2HE), hydrogen peroxide + vitamin D + aerobic exercise (2HDE), and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) groups. For the purpose of inducing apoptosis, 2 mmol/kg of H2O2 was injected three times per week one hour prior to the exercise session. The rats were slaughtered 24 hours following the termination of the exercise sessions and the lung tissue was exposed and stored at -75°C. Then, the RT-PCR method was employed to examine the gene expressions of BAX, BCL2, Caspase3 and BCL2/BAX ratios. It is applied one and two- way analysis of variance and Thuky tests for analysis of data at the significant level of p < 0.05.

BCL2 expression in the 2HE group (p=0.004) and 2HD (p=0.006) increased significantly compared to the control group. While the expression of BAX, BCL2/BAX ratio, Caspase3 in the 2HE and 2HD significantly (p < 0.05) was lower than the control group. On the other hand, 2HDE had a decline effect on BAX gene expression (p=0.03) and BCL2/BAX ratio (p=0.04), but did not show significant effect on expression of BCL2 and Caspase3 gene ( p>0.05).

It seems that that one course of regular aerobic exercise in addition to consuming vitamin D might is likely to cause significant alteration on the expression of genes involved in apoptosis caused by H2O2 presence can be used as a complementary therapy along with other treatments for apoptosis in lung tissue.