The effect of aerobic training and stevia supplement on expression of the glucose metabolism signaling pathway markers in heart tissue of obese rats

Obesity is associated with dysfunction in the metabolic processes of heart tissue, and genetic factors are associated with metabolic homeostasis of heart tissue. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of aerobic training and stevia supplements on the expression of the glucose metabolism signaling pathway markers in the heart tissue of obese rats.

For the implementation of this experimental research, 25 male Wistar rats (five healthy adult rats and 20 adult obese male rats) were divided into five groups: control (healthy), obese, obese-stevia, obese-aerobic training, and obese-stevia- -aerobic training. Aerobic exercise was performed on a treadmill, five days a week for eight weeks. Supplemental groups received 250 mg of stevia (per kilogram of body weight) by gavage during the intervention period. After anesthesia, an autopsy was performed and heart tissue was removed. gene expression of mTOR, AKT, PI3K ، IRS2، INSR, and PTEN in heart tissue were measured using Real-Time PCR.

After the intervention, a decrease of mTOR and PTEN gene expression and an increase of IRS2 and PI3K gene expression in heart tissue were observed in all intervention groups compared to the obese group (P=0.001). Also, the increase of AKT gene expression and the decrease of INSR gene expression in heart tissue were prominent in the obese + exercise + stevia group compared to the obese group (P=0.001).

It seems that aerobic training and stevia supplementation can help to improve the factors involved in heart energy metabolism during obesity.