Effect of high intensity interval training and curcumin supplementation on left ventricular of miR-133 and miR-1 gene expression in isoproterenol-induced myocardial infarction rat model

Imbalance of some microRNAs and its cell apoptosis has an important role in myocardial infarction. Based on the role of curcumin supplementation and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on myocardial infarction, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of these types of training and supplementation on left ventricular gene expression levels of miR-133 and miR-1 in the isoproterenol-induced myocardial infarction (MI) rat model.

Forty male Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups as: HIIT, curcumin, HIIT+curcumin and control groups, following induction of MI via intraperitoneal injection of isopretrenol (100 mg/kg/day) within two consecutive days. The HIIT protocol was performed during eight weeks (five sessions per week), each session was consisted of 10 bouts of running occasions (each for four min) at 85 - 90% of vVo2max with two min rest intervals at 50 to 60% of vVO2max. Moreover, Curcumin (15 mg/kg) was administered daily via gavage. The gene expression levels of miR-1 and miR-133 were evaluated using Real-Time PCR method and the data were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance and Tukey post hoc test at the significance level of p<0.05.

Although, in all three intervention groups of HIIT, curcumin and HIIT+curcumin, the cardiomyocytes miR-1 gene expression level was significantly lower (p=0.001), while miR-133 expression level was higher (p=0.001) than control group. However, gene expression in both variables after HIIT+curcumin showed more changes than curcumin group (p=0.006 and p=0.01 respectively).

Probably, curcumin supplementation along with HIIT training after myocardial infarction is associated with improvement of cardiac function; but due to research limitations, more research is needed.