Effect of eight weeks of high intensity interval training with and without caloric restriction on oxidative stress in the heart tissue of high-fat diet rats

Improper diet and reduced physical activity are associated with cardiovascular diseases. Due to the fact that the role of high intensity interval training (HIIT) and caloric restriction on oxidative stress in the heart tissue is not well understood, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of 8 weeks of HIIT with and without caloric restriction on glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity, malondialdehyde (MDA) and carbonyl protein (PC) in the heart tissue of high-fat diet (HFD) rats.

In this experimental study, 24 obese male rats were divided into 4 groups including high-fat diet, high-fat diet+caloric restriction, high-fat diet+ caloric restriction+HIIT, and high-fat diet+HIIT. Besides, 6 rats were assigned in the healthy control group. The HIIT program was performed for 8 weeks, 3 sessions per week with  high intensity, and the rats on the diet received high-fat diets during the same period. The GPx and MDA indices were measured by Elisa and PC by spectrophotometry methods; then results were extracted by the one-way analysis of variance and Tukey tests at the significant level of p < 0.05.

The PC levels in the high-fat diet+caloric restriction (p=0.001), high-fat diet+HIIT (p=0.001) and high-fat diet+caloric restriction+HIIT (p=0.01) groups were significantly lower than the high-fat diet group. This variable was also significantly lower in the high-fat diet+HIIT group than the high-fat diet+caloric restriction (p=0.005), and high-fat diet+caloric restriction+HIIT (p=0.001) groups. On the other hand, MDA in the high-fat diet+HIIT group was significantly lower than the high-fat diet (p=0.03), and high-fat diet+caloric restriction+HIIT (p=0.009) groups. GPx values in the high-fat diet+caloric restriction+HIIT group were significantly higher than the high-fat diet (p=0.001) group.

HIIT improves oxidative stress indices more than caloric restriction, while combined HIIT and caloric restriction was only effective in improving GPx in the heart tissue of high-fat diet rats.