Background and Objectives: Studies have shown that diabetes is recognized not only as a metabolic disease but also as a vascular disease due to its effects on various vascular beds. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of high-intensity interval training on vascular tissue adropin and TNF-α gene expression and blood nitric oxide levels in male diabetic rats.
Subjects and Methods: Sixty adult male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 6 groups: healthy control, healthy sham, interval training, interval training + saline, diabetic control, and diabetic + interval training. To induce type 2 diabetes, nicotinamide and streptozotocin injection was used. After diabetes induction, the rats in all 3 training groups participated in an 8-week high-intensity interval training program, 5 sessions per week. Forty-eight hours after the last training session, blood and tissue samples were collected to measure the desired factors.
Results: The results of this study showed that high-intensity interval training in the diabetes + exercise group significantly reduced glucose, insulin resistance, and insulin levels, significantly increased serum nitric oxide levels, significantly decreased TNF-α gene expression, and significantly increased adropin gene expression compared to the diabetes group (p<0.05).
Conclusion: The results of this research showed that high-intensity interval training improves vascular function in diabetic individuals by reducing inflammatory factors and increasing adropin. Therefore, high-intensity interval training can be a suitable strategy for developing therapeutic approaches in diabetes.