The effect of voluntary exercise on the process of apoptosis through the PI3K/Akt pathway and BAD and BCL-2 proteins in the heart tissue of male rats on a high-fat diet

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) represent the foremost cause of global mortality. High-fat diet (HFD) and obesity are known to be one of the most important risk factors for CVDs. Apoptosis plays a main role in HFD-induced cardiac dysfunction. In this study we aimed to investigate the effect of voluntary exercise on the process of apoptosis through PI3K/Akt pathway in the heart tissue of male rats on a HFD. Method: 28 male Wistar rats weighing 180-220 gr were used. Four randomly-selected groups of rats (n=7) were studied: control group (fed a normal diet), HFD group, Exercise group, and HFD+exercise group. After 10 weeks, the rats were anesthetized and their hearts were harvested. Western blot analysis was used to measure the expression level of PI3K, Akt, BCL-2, and BAD. Data analysis was done using SPSS 16 software. TUNEL assay was used to identify apoptosis in cardiac tissues. Results: The PI3K and BCL-2 expressions were significantly decreased in HFD group and BAD expression was increased. These changes were reversed by voluntary exercise. The Akt expression didn’t show any significant changes in the HFD group compared with the control group; However, it was significantly higher in HFD+EXE than the control group. TUNEL assay showed a significant increase of the number of TUNEL positive cells in HFD group. As expected, exercise reduced apoptosis in cardiomyocytes.