Effect of Continuous Aerobic Exercise with Citrus aurantium L. on some Liver Cellular Senescence Markers of Elderly rats

Exercise and Citrus aurantium (CA) have a beneficial effect in delaying the aging process of the liver in elderly. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of aerobic training (T) with consumption of CA on Liver p16 and p21 in the liver tissue of elderly rats.

In this experimental study, 25 elderly female rats were placed in five groups of 5 rats, including 1) control, 2) sham, 3) CA, 4) T and 5) T+CA. Over the course of eight weeks, groups 4 and 5 ran on the treadmill three sessions per week at 65 to 75 percent of the maximum running speed, and groups 3 and 5 received 300 mg/kg/day of CA extract peritoneal. Forty- eight hours after the last training session and CA consumption, gene expression levels in the liver tissue were measured by real-time PCR method. In order to analyze the findings, the Shapiro-Wilk, one-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post- hoc tests were used (P≤0.05).

P16 expression was significantly reduced in CA (p=0.048), T (p=0.040) and T+CA (p=0.007) groups compared to control group. Also, a significant decrease in p21 expression was observed in CA (p=0.048), T (p=0.032) and T+CA (p=0.007) groups compared to the control group.

Eight weeks of T and CA alone improved the expression of genes involved in Liver cellular senescence markers of elderly rats. However, the combination of T and CA did not have more favorable effects than either alone.