The Effect of One Period of Endurance Training and Consumption of Hydroalcoholic Extract of Urtica Dioica on Oxidative Stress Indices of Heart Tissue in STZ-Induced Diabetic Rats

Oxidative stress plays a key role in the onset and development of diabetes-related complications. Due to the antioxidant effect of exercise and Urtica dioica (UD), this study aimed to evaluate the effect of one period of endurance exercise and hydroalcoholic extract of Urtica dioica on oxidative stress indices of heart tissue in STZ-Induced diabetic rats.

In this study, 50 Wistar rats (mean±SD weight: 232.12±7.42 g) were randomly divided into five groups: Healthy-sedentary, Diabetes-sedentary, Diabetes-Exercise, Diabetes-Urtica dioica, and Diabetes-Exercise-Urtica dioica. Diabetes was induced by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (45 mg/kg) and 48 hours after injection, blood glucose levels above 300 mg/dl were the criteria for the confirmation of diabetes. Endurance exercise with moderate intensity (5 days/week) and daily gavage of hydroalcoholic extract of UD was performed at 50 mg/kg for six weeks. Data were analyzed in SPSS software (version 20) through Shapiro-Wilk, two-way ANOVA, and Tukey post hoc test.

Two weeks after STZ injection, body weight in the Diabetes-Urtica dioica (P=0.001), Diabetes-Exercise (P=0.034), and Diabetes-Exercise-Urtica dioica (P=0.025) groups decreased, compared to the Healthy-sedentary group, and this reduction continued until the end of the sixth week. In addition, six weeks of endurance exercise and UD extract significantly reduced blood glucose concentration in the Diabetes-Exercise (P=0.001), Diabetes-Urtica dioica (P=0.001), and Diabetes-Exercise-Urtica dioica (P=0.001) groups, compared to the Diabetes-sedentary group. Furthermore, endurance training and UD extract caused a significant increase in catalase (P=0.019) and glutathione peroxidase (P=0.028) values and a significant decrease in heart tissue malondialdehyde (P=0.001).

Six weeks of endurance training combined with UD extract can increase the antioxidant index and decrease lipid peroxidation in the heart tissue of diabetic rats with streptozotocin.