The Effect of Aerobic Exercise with Green Tea Extract Supplementation on Bax and Bcl-2 in Aged Male Rat's Heart Tissue by Immunohistochemistry

Aging is associated with impaired biological function, leading to various diseases, including diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular failure. Regular aerobic exercise and green tea extract with antioxidant properties can reduce the effects of aging. This study aims to investigate the effect of 12 weeks of aerobic exercise and consumption of green tea extract on the levels of Bax and Bcl-2 proteins in the heart tissue of aged male rats.

32 aged male rats were randomly divided into 4 groups: control, exercise, supplement, and exercise+ supplement. Exercise groups performed aerobic exercise at an intensity of 60-75% of vo2peak for 12 weeks and 5 days per week; meantime, the supplementary groups consumed green tea extract. The immunohistochemistry method was used to measure the expression of Bax and Bcl-2. Data were analyzed by ANOVA and Tukey's post-hoc test. The significance level was considered p<0.05. Statistical analysis was performed using Spss 24 software.

The results showed that Bax expression was significantly lower in the exercise group ((p=0.031)), supplement group ((p=0.002)), and exercise + supplement group ((p=0.000)) than the control group. Also, Bcl-2 expression was significantly higher in the exercise+ supplement group ((p=0.036)) than in the control group.

According to the results, a combination of 12 weeks of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise with green tea extract supplementation can decrease the expression of cardiac Bax and ratio of Bax to Bcl-2 than aerobic exercise and green tea supplementation alone.