نشریه مطالعات کاربردی علوم زیستی در ورزش
پیاپی 16 (پاییز و زمستان 1399)

Physical activity depending on its intensity and duration could have an effective impact on disrupting or improving the immune system. Moreover, using the herbal supplement along with exercise, regulates the secretion of anti and pro-inflammatory cytokines, and has a positive impact on the immune system. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of 10 weeks of aerobic training and Sesamin supplementation on serum levels of Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and Interleukin-1 Beta (IL-1β) in trained men.

40 male subjects (20-25 years old) were randomly divided into 4 groups as placebo, aerobic training, aerobic training + Sesamin and Sesamin (n=10). The aerobic training protocol was performed as 30-35 minutes, 4 days a week for 10 weeks. Sesamin supplement in form of gelatin capsule was used by supplemented sesamin groups at dose of 50 mg per week. The placebo group also consumed capsules containing starch. Measurement of IL-6 and IL-1β were done using Elisa method. Data were analyzed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) at P

The results of ANCOVA test showed that after removing the effect of pre-test, only aerobic exercise showed significantly reduced the IL-6 (p=0.008, F=7.99) and IL-1β (p=0.04, F= 4.23). However, the effects of supplements and the interaction between exercise and supplementation did not indicate any significant change (P>0.05).

It seems that taking Sesamin supplements does not have any significant effects on the immune system in trained men; while exercise-induced adaptations could modulate inflammatory factors (such as IL-6 and IL-1β) as compared to Sesamin supplementation. Totally, more extensive research with considering more factors are needed to clear results.

L-citrulline has recently reported as a more effective supplement for promoting intracellular nitric oxide (NO) production and also performance as compared to L-arginine. The aim of present research was to evaluate the effect of one-week of Citrulline-Malate, L-arginine supplementation and their combination on metabolic stress, blood pressure and exercise performance in male wrestlers.

In  this semi-experimental study, 40 male wrestlers (aged 19-25 years; weight 60-90 kg; body fat percent 12-20) in a randomized and double-blind design were divided into four equal as citrulline-malate (Cit; 4g/days), L-arginine (L-Arg; 4g/days), their combination (2g/days L-Arg + 2g/days Cit) and placebo (P) groups. Before and after supplementation period, all subjects were participated in a competition like wrestling. After the initial blood sampling, the wrestlers performed the wrestling-like competitive test, and then the secondary blood sample was taken five minutes after the test. After one week of supplementation, exercise protocols and blood sampling are performed in the same way. Plasma lactate, urea and both aerobic and anaerobic power were analyzed. Change any of the parameters (mean and standard deviation) during four stages and also between groups were determined by repeated measure analysis of variance and Bonferoni post hoc tests, at  the significance level  of .

Urea and lactate concentration after one week supplementation of Citrulline-Malate and combination of Citrulline-Malate with L-arginine were significantly increased and decreased, respectively (p < 0.05). Moreover, anaerobic power was significantly increased following the combined supplementation (p < 0.05). Also, all three types of intervention could increase aerobic capacity, resting NO levels and NO response to competition like wrestling (p < 0.05). In addition, none of the above interventions had no effect on blood pressure(p>0.05).

It seems that combination of Citrulline-Malate and L-arginine supplementation improve performance via reduce exercise-induced metabolic stress and fatigue index (lactate).

Despite the investigation on anti-inflammatory effects of exercise training, the simultaneous effect of exercise training and Zataria Multiflora supplement on inflammatory factors is unclear. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify the effects of 8 weeks of combined exercise training along with Zataria Multiflora supplement ingestion on serum levels of monocyte chmoattractant Protein-1 (MCP-1) and insulin resistance in overweight men.

Forty overweight men with average age of 29.35±2.99 years and body mass index 27.66±1.2 kg/m2 assigned into 4 equal groups including placebo, Zataria Multiflora, training and training+Zataria Multiflora groups. Combined training program (resistance-aerobic) performed for 8 weeks/ in 3 sessions per week. Resistance training program consist of 6 exercises up to 75-80 percent of one-repetition maximum. Moreover, aerobic training program consists of 10-20 minutes running up to 70-75 percent of maximum heart rate. Moreover, Zataria Multiflora and training+Zataria Multiflora groups ingested daily 500 mg Zataria Multiflora capsule. MCP-1 and insulin levels measured by Elisa method and data were analyzed by repeated measures analysis of variance test and Bonferroni post hoc test at significance level of  p

Both MCP-1 and insulin resistance variables significantly decreased in both training (p < 0.001) and training+ Zataria Multiflora (p < 0.001) groups, while this variation was greater in training+Zataria Multiflora group (p < 0.05). In addition, only insulin resistance significantly decreased in Zataria Multiflora group compared to placebo group (p < 0.001).

It seems that exercise training (consist of resistance and aerobic training) with combination of Zataria Multiflora have a positive synergic effect for overweight subjects that it caused by modulating of the inflammatory markers such as MCP-1 and reduction of insulin resistance.

The term of diabetic heart disease has veen defined as the term of diabetic heart disease in the presence of a heart problem by the institute of National Health, particularly in some diabetic patient which pathologic left ventricular hypertrophy. However, physical activity can be affect structurally and functionally the myocardium in diabetic patients. Nevertheless; the molecular regulation of physiological heart growth has not been studied well as a supplement therapy protocol against pathologic hypertrophy. Therefore, the present study investigated the effect of 8 weeks of high intensity interval training (HIIT) on phosphatidylinositol kinase 3 (PI3K) gene expression, insulin resistance, heart weight, glucose and serum insulin in male Wistar rats with type 2 diabetes.

Twenty male Wistar rats, 10 weeks old, weight 120±20gr were randomly divided into two groups including HIIT and control groups. After familiarization, the training group was participated in an 8-week of training protocol, 5 sessions per week, for 30 minutes per session. The gene expression of PI3K, insulin resistance, serum glucose and insulin levels were measured by the RT-PCR, HOMA -IR hemostasis, and ELISA methods respectively. The data were analyzed by the t-test for independent groups at p

The result indicated that in the HIIT group, PI3K expression was significantly higher than control group (p < 0.003). The insulin resistance (p < 0.0001) and serum glucose index (p < 0.0001) were significantly decreased, while serum insulin increased significantly (p < 0.04). In addition, heart weight significantly increased in the exercise group (p < 0.0001).

HIIT exercise increases the expression of PI3K gene, stimulates the physiological molecular pathway of hypertrophy and could plays a role in preventing left ventricular hypertrophy as a complementary treatment.

Cytokines and growth factors plays an important role in increasing the capacity of stem cell proliferation and migration, and recently, attention has also been paid to the role of Physical activity in this regard. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of two types of acute interval and continuous aerobic exercises on serum hematopoietic stem cell CD34 and chemokine SDF-1 in overweight women.

Thirty female overweight students volunteered to participate in the study and then were randomly divided into three equal groups (two experimental and one control group). Experimental groups performed an acute interval (2 minutes 50% and 1 minutes 80% VO2max) and a continuous (60% VO2max) aerobic exercise for 60 minutes on treadmill. The CD34 and SDF-1 indices were measured by ELISA method and the results were extracted using one-way covariance analysis, and LSD post hoc test on statistical significance as p

The acute interval and continuous aerobic exercise increased significantly the stem cells CD34 (p=0.005 & p=0.002, respectively) and the chemokine SDF-1 (p=0.0001) and there is no differences between the effect of two types of exercise on these variables (p>0.05).

The increase in these two indicators following interval and continuous aerobic exercises indicates that not only the implementation of these activities does not have a negative effect on the immune system of the participants, but also could be indication of the activation of the physiological regenerative mechanisms following exercise- induced inflammation.

Type 1 diabetes has been considered among of the metabolic diseases in various societies. Some research indicated that exercise and supplementation could have positive effects on the treatment of various diseases. The purpose of this study was to investigate the interactive effect of exercises and nettle consumption on the amount of apelin as an adipokine secreted from adipose tissue in rats with type1 diabetes mellitus.

For this purpose, 40 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups: control, nettle, resistance training+nettle, and endurance training+nettle groups. Using streptozotocin, type 1 diabetes was induced in all animals. All groups-except control group- received 1 mg/kg body weight daily of nettle extract. The "resistance training+nettle" group climbed a ladder with weights attached to the tail that gradually increased. Also, "endurance training+nettle" group practiced swimming. Training protocols were performed for eight weeks, and at the end of the eighth weeks, blood samples were taken directly from the left ventricle of the heart. Plasma apelin measurement was performed using the apelin laboratory kit by ELISA.  Dependent t-test for determine weight changes; one-way ANOVA and Tukey's test for compare averages and Pearson correlation coefficient for the relationship between variables were used for statistical analysis and the significance level was set as p

Apelin showed significant increase in "nettle" (p=0.04), "resistance training+nettle" (p=0.04), and "endurance training+nettle" groups compared to the control group (p=0.0001). Changes in this index in "endurance training+nettle" group were more significant than "nettle" (p=0.02) and "resistance training+nettle" (p=0.04) groups. A significant decrease was observed in "control," "nettle," and "resistance training+nettle" groups (p=0.0001) for the weight of animals between pre and post-test, but it was not significant in "endurance training+nettle" group (p=0.89).

Lack of weight losing and improvement in plasma apelin  levels in "endurance training+nettle" group in rats with type1 diabetes is probably due to the interactive effect of endurance training with the simultaneous of the nettle consumption.

Exercise is a strong physiological stimulus that can affect the lung apoptosis by in fluencing a number of extracellular and intracellular signaling pathways, directly or indirectly. This study was designed to determine the effects of aerobic exercise training alongside vitamin D supplementation on the expression of apoptosis genes BCL2, BAX, Caspase3 and BCL2/BAX ratio on lung cell apoptosis in male rats exposed to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2).

Fourty eight male rats were randomly assigned into 6 groups (n=8) including control, hydrogen peroxide (2H), hydrogen peroxide + vitamin D(2HD), hydrogen peroxide + aerobic exercise (2HE), hydrogen peroxide + vitamin D + aerobic exercise (2HDE), and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) groups. For the purpose of inducing apoptosis, 2 mmol/kg of H2O2 was injected three times per week one hour prior to the exercise session. The rats were slaughtered 24 hours following the termination of the exercise sessions and the lung tissue was exposed and stored at -75°C. Then, the RT-PCR method was employed to examine the gene expressions of BAX, BCL2, Caspase3 and BCL2/BAX ratios. It is applied one and two- way analysis of variance and Thuky tests for analysis of data at the significant level of p < 0.05.

BCL2 expression in the 2HE group (p=0.004) and 2HD (p=0.006) increased significantly compared to the control group. While the expression of BAX, BCL2/BAX ratio, Caspase3 in the 2HE and 2HD significantly (p < 0.05) was lower than the control group. On the other hand, 2HDE had a decline effect on BAX gene expression (p=0.03) and BCL2/BAX ratio (p=0.04), but did not show significant effect on expression of BCL2 and Caspase3 gene ( p>0.05).

It seems that that one course of regular aerobic exercise in addition to consuming vitamin D might is likely to cause significant alteration on the expression of genes involved in apoptosis caused by H2O2 presence can be used as a complementary therapy along with other treatments for apoptosis in lung tissue.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease that in case of lack of control can cause fibrosis, cirrhosis, and also damage the cells. Lifestyle changes and increasing of physical activity are the basis of managing this disease. The present study aimed to study the effect of aerobic-pilates exercise training on the serum levels of liver enzymes and the sonography of patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. 

In this quasi-experimental study, 20 men with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease were selected by targeted sampling and randomly divided into experimental and control groups. The training period was 6 weeks, during this period the experimental group performed aerobic and pilates exercises, 60 to 90 minutes/4 days a week with 60 to 90 and 40 to 70 percent of maximal heart rate, respectively.  Blood samples and sonography were collected 24 hours before and 48 hours after the end of the intervention, to determine the activity of liver enzymes and also the degree of fatty liver respectivley. For statistical analysis the dependent and  independent t-test and Wilcoxon or Man Whitney U were used. All statistical calculations were performed with SPSS software version 21 and a significant level was set as p≤0.05. 

The serum levels of Alanin aminotransferase (ALT) and Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) enzymes significantly decreased (p=0.02, p=0.001, respectively) in the experimental group. Moreover, the disease severity also showed a significant decrease as compared with the control group (p=0.003). 

Performing a combination of aerobic-pilates exercise for 6 weeks and repeating 4 sessions per week has a significant effect on improving fatty liver disease and can be used as a non-pharmacological method.

The results of the studies showed that the intensity and volume of aerobic exercise activities can make different responses to the immune system. The purpose of this study was to investigate the acute and chronic effects of moderate and high intensity aerobic exercises on the signaling pathway of the inflammatory NLRP3 complex or TLR4 and some inflammatory cytokines in young men.

A randomized sampling method was used in which 60 subjects were selected based on their research. They were randomly divided into two groups (40 subjects) with a mean age of 24.4 ± 0.4 years and a BMI of 23.3 ± 3.5 kg/m2 and in the control group (20 persons) with a mean age of 22.8 ± 0.55 years and BMI of 23.0 ± 4.91 kg/m2. The training protocol for the moderate group performed up to 50 - 70 and for the high group up to 70 – 90 percent of maximum heart rate respectively. Using real time-PCR method, the expression of NLRP3, TLR4 genes and using the Elisa method IL-1β and IL-18 were measured. Also repeated measure ANOVA and the LSD post hoc- test were used to analyzing data at the significant level of p < 0.05.

The results showed that acute aerobic exercise with moderate intensity had no significant effect on the expression of NLRP3 (p=0.20), TLR4 (p=0.80) genes and serum levels of IL-1β (p=0.15) and IL-18 (p=0.25) cytokines. While acute exercise with severity initiation of the activity of the inflammatory complex, with a significant increase in serum levels of IL-1β, IL-18 and, and expression of NLRP3 and TLR4 genes (p=0.01). Also moderate chronic aerobic exercise also significantly reduced the expression of NLRP3, TLR4 genes and serum levels of IL-1β, IL-18 cytokines (p=0.001). In the case of high chronic training, significant increases in expression of genes NLRP3, TLR4 and serum levels of IL-1β, IL-18 cytokines were observed (p=0.0001).

It can be concluded that endurance chronic aerobic activity with moderate intensity is effective in decreasing the expression of the inflammasome and inflammation while acute aerobic activity with some intensities  had no effect.

Obesity is associated with many health problems, including diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery disease, and osteoarthritis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of cinnamon supplementation with resistance training on plasma levels of leptin, adiponectin in overweight women.

Forty overweight women were divided into 4 groups (n=10) including resistance training +cinnamon supplementation, resistance training, cinnamon supplementation and control groups. Experimental group performed resistance exercises for 8 weeks, 3 sessions per week up to 60-80 percent of one repetition maximum. The subjects in the resistance training +cinnamon supplementation and cinnamon supplementation groups, received 7 mg of cinnamon powder per kg of body weight three times a day. Blood samples as serum leptin and adiponectin levels were taken before and also 48 hours after the last exercise session of the protocol. For statistical analysis, the paired t-test and covariance test were used to examine the difference between groups at the significant level of p≤0.05.

The result indicated significant decreases in leptin levels and increases of the adiponectin level in resistance training groups + cinnamon intake (p < 0.001 and p < 0.01 respectively), resistance training group (p < 0.01) and cinnamon supplement (p < 0.01 and p < 0.02 respectively). Moreover, there was no significant differences between the effect of cinnamon supplementation on leptin (p < 0.07) and adiponectin (p < 0.24); but resistance training + cinnamon supplementation showed higher decreasing in leptin (p < 0.01) and more increasing in adiponectin levels (p < 0.01) compared to resistance training and cinnamon supplementation alone.

Regular resistance training along with supplementation of cinnamon can reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease by improving the levels of leptin and adiponectin and it can be used as an effective non-pharmacological treatment to prevent these diseases.

Studies showed that impairment in substrate metabolism due to obesity could increase with aging. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to compare the substrate metabolism and energy expenditure in obese young and middle-aged women during running on a treadmill.

Ten young obese women aged 20 to 25 years and 10 middle-aged obese women aged 40 to 45 years volunteered for this study. The exercise program included running on a treadmill with an intensity of 75% of maximum heart rate for 30 minutes. The fat oxidation, carbohydrates oxidation, and energy expenditure were measured by respiratory gas analyzer for 30 minuates at baseline and 30 minutes during activity in every subject. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance at significant level of p˂0.05 was considered.

The results indicated that energy expenditure, carbohydrate oxidation and fat oxidation were not significantly differ between the two groups at baseline (p>0.05); however, these indicators were significantly lower in middle aged obese women than obese young women during activity (p=0.03, p=0.002, and p=0.02, respectively).

Based on the results of the present study, it can be said that for increasing energy expenditure and reduction of body weight, middle-aged obese women should spend more time than obese young women because of their lower substrate metabolism and energy expenditure.

Obese and overweight people are always at risk of cardiovascular diseases. The purpose of this study was to study the effect of 8 weeks of low intensity continuous and high intensity interval training on sirtuin-1 (SIRT1) and long-chain Acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (LCAD) gene in the heart tissue of the obese rats.

Twenty one Sprague - Dawley obese rats were selected and randomly divided into three groups (n=7) including (1) high intensity interval training (HIIT), (2) low intensity continuous training, and (3) control groups. Interval and continuous training groups were trained three sessions per week with intensity of 80 to 85 and 50 to 55 percent of the maximum running speed on a treadmill for 8 weeks. After RNA extraction from cardiac tissue and cDNA synthesis, the expression of SIRT1 and LCAD genes was quantitatively calculated using real time-PCR. For statistical analysis the Shapiro-Wilk, covariance analysis, one-way ANOVA, and Benferoni post hoc tests were used to analyze data at a significant level of p≤0.05.

The expression of SIRT1 gene in HIIT group (p=0.001) and low intensity continuous training (p=0.001) was significantly higher than control group; Moreover, the expression of LCAD gene in the HIIT group was significantly higher than control group (p=0.001) and low intensity continuous training (p=0.001). On the other hand, the weight of the rats in the HIIT group in the post-test was significantly lower than control group (p=0.001) and low intensity continuous training (p=0.001).

It seems that HIIT as compare to low intensity continuous training has more positive effect on improvement of SIRT1 and LCAD genes expression in the heart tissue of the obese rats.