Protective effect of aerobic exercise and concurrent L-carnitine supplementation on renal ischemia-reperfusion injury in male rats

Aerobic exercise and L-carnitine consumption are associated with increasing the activity of antioxidant enzymes and reducing inflammatory processes, but their mechanisms in the face of kidney ischemia-reperfusion injury are not fully known. The aim of this study was to investigate the protective effect of aerobic exercise and L-carnitine consumption simultaneously on renal damage caused by ischemia-reperfusion in male rats. In this experimental study, 42 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into six equal groups and subjected to an eight-week aerobic exercise and six-week L-carnitine intake. At the end, mice were subjected to 45 minutes of kidney ischemia by surgery, and after 24 hours of blood supply, all mice were euthanized at the same time and sampling was done to evaluate the oxidant-antioxidant activity in their renal tissue. Finally, the data were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey's post hoc test using spss-26 software. In the rats of the ischemia-reperfusion group compared to the control group, a significant decrease in the activities of catalase, glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase and total antioxidant capacity and a significant increase in malondialdehyde was observed (p<0.05). The interventions of aerobic exercise and L-carnitine had a significant effect on increasing the activity of catalase, glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase and total antioxidant capacity and reducing malondialdehyde (p<0.05). Performing aerobic exercise and taking L-carnitine supplement at the same time is more effective in terms of increasing antioxidant activities and improving the renal pathological changes of rats, indicating their synergistic effect in protecting the kidney against damage caused by ischemia-reperfusion.