The Effects of Different Training on Gene Expression Involved in Muscle Autophagy in Elderly Rats

One of the major problems in old age is sarcopenia, which can be prevented by doing various exercise training. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of resistance and endurance training on the expression of genetic factors involved in muscle autophagy in elderly male rats.

In this study, thirteen male rats aged 18 months were randomly assigned to three groups: control (n = 10), endurance training (n = 10), and resistance training (n = 10). Training programs were done 5 sessions per week for 8 weeks. Then, all subjects were anesthetized 48 hours after the experiment finished and sampling was performed from the bicep. Then, the expression of AKT and FOXO3 genes was measured using the reference gene by Real-Time PCR method. Finally, statistical analysis was conducted using a one-way analysis of variance, and the pairwise differences were evaluated using Tukey's test.

The results of the analysis variance of FOXO3 and AKT proteins values showed that there is a significant difference between resistance, endurance, and control training groups respectively. Tukey's test for both proteins showed that there is a significant difference between resistance and control groups, and resistance training has a greater effect than endurance training.

Overall, the present study showed that resistance exercises in skeletal muscle can activate autophagy pathways more than endurance exercises. Therefore, resistance training seems to be a more effective training method in improving the expression of genes involved in advancing sarcopenia with aging.