The Eeffect of Eight Weeks Moderate and High Intensity Resistance Training on Resting Levels of Serum Myostatin and IGF-I in elderly Rats

One of the most important and prevalent disorders in elderly people is age-related muscular atrophy or Sarcopenia. Sarcopenia is associated with a significant reduction in muscle strength and volume. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of moderate and high intensity resistance training on serum levels of myostatin and IGF-1 in elderly rats thirty male Wistar rats (23 months old) were randomly divided into two experimental and control group including moderate intensity resistance training (n = 10), high intensity resistance training (n = 10) and the control group (n = 10). Resistance training included 8 weeks of climbing a ladder with high intensity (80% MVCC) and moderate intensity (60% of MVCC) and 5 days a week. After completing training, serum concentration of IGF-1 and myostatin were measured using the ELISA method. Myostatin concentration in decreased in high (916.5±43.1) and moderate (958.8±36.9) intensity resistance groups and IGF-1 increases in high (156.3±15.5) and moderate (141.8±7.4) intensity resistance groups (p<0.05). Also, there was significant difference between the IGF-I levels in high and moderate resistance training (p=0.009). However, there was no significant difference in myostatin level between groups. It seems that resistance training with moderate and high intensity can be change  the resting levels of factors associated with muscular atrophy in elderly rats. However, there id further need to evaluate in human participants.