Effect of aerobic exercise on vascular endothelial growth factor-B (VEGF-B) gene expression and total tissue antioxidant status (TAS) in diabetic rats

Diabetes causes cardiovascular disorders and causes coronary artery disease or systemic hypertension. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of aerobic exercise on vascular endothelial growth factor-B (VEGF-B) gene expression and total antioxidant status (TAS) of cardiac tissue in diabetic male rats.

This experimental study was performed on 30 adult male Wistar rats and divided into 3 groups of Diabetic training, Diabetic control and healthy control (n = 10). Diabetic rats were diabetic by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin. The exercise program consisted of 6 weeks of treadmill training. After 24 hours of the last training session to examine the effect of exercise, cardiac tissue samples were extracted to measure VEGF-B gene expression and TAS. One-way ANOVA with statistical level (P˂0.05) was used to compare between groups and significant differences between groups.

Results showed after a period of endurance training there was a significant increase in VEGF-B gene expression and total antioxidant status in the exercise-treated diabetic group compared to control diabetes (P = 0.001). However, no significant difference (P = 0.364) and significant difference (P = 0.033) were observed for VEGF-B gene expression level and antioxidant status between diabetic training and healthy control diabetic groups, respectively.

It seems that endurance training has a positive effect on VEGF-B and TAS of diabetic heart rats and can improve diabetic heart.