The Effect of 8-Week Aerobic Exercise on the Expression of Regulatory Subunits of NADPH Oxidase 2 (p47phox and p67phox) in the Cardiac Tissue of Diabetic Rats

Oxidative stress seems to play a major role in diabetes-induced cardiac dysfunction, known as diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM). Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase 2 is considered as one of the main enzymatic systems which primarily contributes to the production of reactive oxygen species in various organs including the heart. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of 8 weeks of aerobic exercise (AE) on the expression of p47phox and p67phox, which are regarded as the regulatory subunits of NADPH oxidase 2 in the cardiac tissue in diabetic rats. A total of 36 male Wistar rats with a mean weight of 231±25 g were randomly divided into non-diabetic, control diabetic, and trained diabetic groups (each containing 12 rats). Nicotinamide and streptozotocin were used to induce diabetes in the rats. The cardiac muscle was removed under sterile conditions 48 hours following the last training session. Finally, the mRNA levels of p47phox and p67phox were evaluated using the real-time polymerase chain reaction. The results showed that diabetes induction significantly increased the gene expressions of p47phox and p67phox in the cardiac tissue of diabetic rats. The expression of these genes was significantly attenuated after 8 weeks of AE. In general, AE was found to prevent the negative effects of diabetes by suppressing p47phox and p67phox in the cardiac tissue of diabetic rats. Therefore, this can improve cardiac function and may be a potential preventive or therapeutic modality for DCM.