The Effect of 8 Weeks High-intensity Interval Training on Myostatin and Follistatin Gene Expression in Gastrocnemius Muscle of the Rats

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the effect of 8 weeks High-intensity Interval Training (HIIT) on the expression of two muscle growth regulating genes (myostatin and follistatin) in gastrocnemius muscle of healthy male rats.
16 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into two groups in the same number: control and HIIT. HIIT program was underwent 40 min each session, three sessions in a week for eight weeks. Each exercise training session consisted of 5 min warm-up and cool-down at 40-50 % VO2max, 30 min interval running including 4 min high-intensity (85-90% VO2max) and 2 min active recovery (at 50-60% VO2max). Rats in control group did not do any exercise training program. 48 h after the last training session, rats` gastrocnemius muscle was extracted and the expression of myostatin and follistatin genes was determined by Real Time-PCR. For statistical data analysis, independent t-test was used.
The expression of myostatin was significantly reduced 68% in HIIT group in comparison with the control group (p0.05). Gastrocnemius muscle weight was significantly increased 23% in the HIIT group compared to the control group (p Results indicated that HIIT lead to significant reduction in the expression of myostatin gene and increase in the weight of gastrocnemius muscle in rats.