The effect of two-months of high-intensity interval training on the expression of reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) proteins in the myocardial tissue of male rats with type 2 diabetes

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of two months of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on ABCA1, ABCG1 proteins and HDL (important factors in regulating reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) as a protective process of the heart) in type 2 diabetic male rats heart tissue.

In an experimental study, Forty 3-month-old adult male Wistar rats with a mean weight (251.13± 13.68 g) were randomly divided in four groups of 10 series including: healthy control (C: intraperitoneal injection of saline), healthy (T: running at 85-90% of maximum speed in 6 to 12 2-minute bouts; 5 days per week for eight weeks), diabetic control (D: diabetic on a high-fat diet with intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin) and diabetics do training (D + T: diabetic with exercise). Western blot was used to evaluate the changes in the expression profile of ABCA1 and ABCG1 proteins in the heart tissue of rats. One-way analysis of variance and Bonferroni post hoc test were used to analyze the data.

The results showed that the levels of ABCA1 and ABCG1 proteins and HDL-C in the diabetic group were significantly lower than the control group (P = 0.005). Whereas, in the healthy (T) trained group, the levels of ABCA1 (P = 0.009), ABCG1 (P = 0.005) and HDL-C (P = 0.043) were Increased respectively 36%, 17% and 8% compared to the diabetic control group (D). On the other hand, HIIT training caused a non-significant increase in both proteins and HDL-C changes in the trained diabetic group (D + T) compared to the diabetic group (D) (P≥0.05).

The results indicate that the two-month intervention of HIIT training enhances the flow of HDL cholesterol by increasing the levels of ABCA1 and ABCG1 proteins in healthy rats; Which can be useful in improving the reverse cholesterol transfer from macrophages, and due to the increase of although non-significant indicators, HIIT may improve the cardiovascular complications of type 2 diabetes.