The effect of eight weeks of aerobic training with chlorella supplementation on brain antioxidant levels in diabetic male rats

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of an eight-week aerobic training  program and chlorella supplementation on brain antioxidants of diabetic male rats. Fifty male rats were randomly divided into 5 groups (n=10): aerobic training (AT), chlorella, training + chlorella, diabetic control and healthy control groups. Training was performed on a treadmill for eight weeks (5 sessions per week). Chlorella groups consumed chlorella powder solution once a day for eight weeks, each time with a dose of 5% of body weight. The rats of all the groups were anesthetized and sacrificed 48 hours following the last training session and after extraction of brain tissue, the levels of catalase and superoxide dismutase enzymes were measured. The activity of both enzymes (CAT and SOD) in all diabetic rats was higher than that in the healthy control group and of all three types of intervention led to a decrease in the amount of activity of these enzymes induced by diabetes. Also, the cumulative effect of supplementation and exercise was better than each other alone (P<0.05). Chlorella consumption and exercise in the brain of diabetic rats, contrary to expectation, were associated with an increase in the activity of superoxide dismutase and catalase enzymes, which appears to be due to the brain's efforts to relieve oxidative stress in the brain.