The Effect of 6 Weeks Progressive Aerobic Training with Injection of Adipose Tissue-Derived Stem Cells on Nerve Growth Factor and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Levels in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rat’s Hippocampus

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of 6 weeks progressive aerobic training with tail injection of adipose tissue-derived stem cells on nerve growth factor (NGF and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF(levels in streptozotocin-Induced diabetic rat’s hippocampus. 48 rats (weight: 220-240 g and age: 9 week) were divided into 6 groups: control, sham ،control diabetes, diabetes+exercise, diabetes + stem cell, diabetes + exercise + stem cell. The exercise protocol was treadmill running for 5 days per week with intensity of 60-70% VO2max for 6 weeks. In the stem cell receiver group, Insulin Syringes with PBS / 5 ml contains 1/5*106 number of stem cells extracted from human adipose tissue of diabetic rats was injected into the tail vein. Diabetes was induced by injection of streptozotocin (60 mg/kg) dissolved in citrate buffer, pH 4.5 intraperitoneally. VEGF and NGF levels in the hippocampus were measured by ELISA. The levels of VEGF and NGF were significantly reduced in the diabetic group compared to the control (P = 0.0001). On the other hand, VEGF levels in the diabetic + exercise + cell group were significantly higher than other groups (P = 0.0001). Also, these levels were significantly increased in the diabetes + cell and diabetes + exercise groups compared with the control diabetes group(P = 0.0001). On the other hand, the level of NGF in the diabetic cell group was significantly higher than that of the other groups except for the group of diabetes (P = 0.0001). Also, these levels were significantly increased in the diabetes + cell and diabetes + exercise groups compared with the control diabetes group (P = 0.0001). Generally, the results showed that the levels of NGF and VEGF in the training group, stem cell and also in the combined group were significantly increased compared to the control group for diabetes. Therefore, it seems that each of the interventions, especially their combination, can be a controller factor against diabetes due to an increase in neurotrophic and vascular effects.