Simultaneous effect of resistance training and alpha lipoic acid on LC3-1 and P62 gene expression of fatty liver diabetic male rats

Autophagy is a genetically and evolutionarily conserved the programmed process that destroys long-lived cellular proteins and organelles. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of eight weeks of strength training with alpha-lipoic acid supplementation on LC3-I and P62 in elderly diabetic rats.

In this experimental study, 35 old male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 5 groups (healthy control, diabetic, diabetic + strength training, Diabetic + supplement, Diabetic + strength training + supplement). First, the rats became diabetic and had a fatty liver. Strength training program in 10 weeks performed. Alfa-lipoic acid supplement was also injected 3 days a week. At the end of the training period and tissues were removed and the expression of LC3-I and P62 were measured by RT-PCR. For data analysis, a one-way analysis variance test was used for comparison between groups was considered (P<0/05).

The result showed mRNA LC3-1 has increased and this change is more in the diabetic group. (P=0.001) and  despite the decrease in P62 gene expression, we did not see a significant difference between the control group and the diabetic in the training group with and without supplementation.However, no significant difference was observed between training methods and supplementation with exercise. Also, resistance training in combination with alpha-lipoic acid supplementation had a significant effect on reducing P62 content between control and experimental groups. (P=0.001).

Alfa-lipoic acid supplement with anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory effect along with exercise can play an important role in improving fatty liver in elderly type 2 diabetic rats.