The Effect of an Aerobic Exercise Course on Cardiac Tissue Apoptosis in Adult Male Rats Poisoned With Oxygenated Water

Background and Aim: Exercise is a strong physiological stimulus that can directly or indirectly affect the process of cardiac apoptosis by affecting some extracellular and intracellular signaling pathways. This study aimed to investigate the effect of aerobic exercise on cardiac tissue apoptosis in rats poisoned with oxygenated water. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, 24 male Wistar rats with a weight range of 200-220 g and a mean age of 8-10 weeks were divided into 3 groups, each group containing 8 rats: (1) healthy control (HC), (2) toxicant control (TC), and (3) toxic aerobic exercise (AE). To induce apoptosis, a 9% oxidant, with a large amount of oxygenated water was used by inhalation for 3 hours daily. Twenty-four hours after the last exercise, rats were sacrificed, and their tissue samples were isolated and kept at -80 ° C. Then, the expression of BAX, Caspase 3, and BCL2 genes in cardiac tissue was measured using RTPCR. Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistical test and one-way analysis of variance with Tukey post hoc test in SPSS software v. 22 were used to analyze the data (P≥0.05). Results: Exposure to oxygenated water significantly increased BAX (P=0.001) and Caspase 3 (P=0.002) and significantly decreased BCL2 gene expression (P=0.001) in cardiac tissue. While aerobic exercise decreased levels of BAX (P=0.001) and Caspase 3 (P=0.001) and increased BCL2 (P=0.000) in the cardiac tissue of rats poisoned with oxygenated water. Conclusion: It seems that a period of aerobic exercise with significant changes in the expression of genes involved in oxygenated apoptosis can be used as a complementary therapy and other methods to modulate the apoptosis of cardiac tissue.