Effect of Eight Weeks of Endurance Training and Stevia Supplemention on Atrial Natriuretic Peptide and β-Myosin Heavy Chain Expression Levels in Heart Tissue of Rats With Type 1 Diabetes

Abstract

Background The effects of exercise and stevia extract on diabetes-related indicators have been already reported, but their cardiac benefits on Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) are unclear. Objective This study aims to evaluate the effect of eight weeks of endurance training and stevia supplementation on gene expression levels of Atrial Natriuretic Peptide (ANP) and β-Myosin Heavy Chain (β-MHC) in the heart tissue of T1D rats. Methods In this experimental study, 25 rats with the average weight of 250-300 g were divided into five groups; healthy control, diabetic control, diabetic+supplementation, diabetic+training, and diabetic+trai ning+supplementation. T1D was induced by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (55 mg/kg/ body weight). Endurance training was performed 5 days a week at a speed of 20-30 meters per minute on a surface with a zero slope for 8 weeks. Stevia was gavaged in a dose of 250 mg/kg/body weight. Rats were slaughtered 48 hours after the last training session. Cardiac tissue was used to measure the parameters. The gene expression of ANP and b-MHC in cardiac tissue was measured by real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) method. Data were analyzed by using one-way ANOVA and Bonferroni post hoc test. Findings The gene expression levels of ANP and β-MHC were significantly higher in the diabetic control group compared to the healthy control group (P=0.001), and significantly lower in the diabetic+training and diabetic+training+supplementation groups compared to the diabetic control group (P=0.001). Conclusion Endurance training and stevia supplementation can have beneficial effects on the heart of T1D rats.

Keywords

• type 1 diabetes
• exercise
• stevia
• atrial natriuretic peptide
• β-myosin heavy chain
• heart tissue