Combined Effect of Aerobic Exercise and Crocin Supplementation on the Prevention of Myocardial Tissue Cell Death in Male Wistar Rats

Oxidative stress-induced cell death is activated by free radicals. Exercise and nutrition appear to have the potential to modulate cell proliferation and death. This study aimed to evaluate the combined effect of aerobic exercise and crocin consumption on the prevention of myocardial tissue cell death in male Wistar rats.

In this experimental study, 36 male Wistar rats with a mean weight of 180-200g were randomly divided into six groups (oxygenated water, oxygenated water+crocin, oxygenated water+ exercise, oxygenated water+crocin+exercise, sham, and control). After two weeks of familiarity with the environment and learning the exercises,  the training groups were given aerobic exercises for six weeks. All groups, except for the sham and control, were given 1 mM H2O2 and subcutaneously injected with 12.5 mg crocin. 48 hours after the last training session, the rats were anesthetized with CO2 after 10-12 hours of fasting, and their myocardial tissue was isolated. To measure the pro-apoptotic genes, Real-Time PCR was used; moreover, one-way analysis of variance and Scheffe post-Hoc test were employed for data analysis. A P-value of ≥0.05 was considered statistically significant.

The findings showed that six weeks of aerobic training in water, consumption of crocin supplementation, as well as the combination of aerobic exercise and crocin supplementation, reduced the expression of the genes of the internal apoptotic pathway at a significant level of ≥ 0.05.

According to the results of the present study, it seems that the interaction and combination of aerobic exercise in water and crocin antioxidant supplement should be used to reduce the apoptosis of the myocardial tissue, less cell damage, and ultimately the health of the myocardial tissue.