Changes in Some Observational Cardiac Parameters and Cardiac PGC1-α Expression Following Eight Weeks of Endurance Training and Saffron Consumption in Animal Models of Alzheimer’s Disease

The link between Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and heart disease has recently been reported. Previous studies have reported the beneficial role of endurance training (ET) and saffron (Sa) on the heart and nervous system health, but their interactive effect is not yet well known. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine changes in some observational cardiac parameters and cardiac PGC1-α expression after 8 weeks of ET and Sa consumption in animal models of AD.

In this experimental trial, 40 rats with AD (by intraperitoneal injection of 8 mg/kg neurotoxin trimethyltin) were divided into (1) AD, (2) sham (Sh), (3) Sa, (4) ET, and (5) ET + Sa groups. Additionally, to evaluate the effect of AD induction on the research variables, 8 healthy rats were included in the healthy control (HC) group. Groups 4 and 5 ran for 8 weeks, three 15-30 minute sessions per week at a speed of 20-15 m/min. Groups 3 and 5 received 25 mg/ kg aqueous extract of Sa peritoneally each day. To analyze the data, dependent samples t test, one-way analysis of variance and Tukey’s post hoc test, analysis of covariance with Bonferroni’s post hoc test in SPSS version 22.0 were used (P ≥ 0.05).

In the Sa and ET + Sa groups, heart weight, heart weight to body weight ratio, and cardiac PGC1-α expression were higher and the body weight of these groups was significantly lower compared with the AD group (P ≤ 0.05). Moreover, in the ET group, heart weight was higher than body weight and total body weight was lower compared to the AD group (P ≤ 0.05).

It seems that Sa and ET + Sa interaction improve heart function and some parameters related to heart health by increasing PGC1-α expression, but the effect of training depends on its type and intensity, which should be further studied.