The effect of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on gene expression of the factors involved in the skeletal muscle metabolism of diabetic rats

Improving the metabolism of skeletal muscle is one of the important mechanisms for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on gene expression of the factors involved in the skeletal muscle metabolism of diabetic rats.

To implementation of this experimental research, 60 male Wistar rats weighing 220 ± 20 gr randomly were divided into 5 groups including baseline control, eight-week control, diabetes, training and diabetes-training. In this study, the rats were diabetic using given a single dose of 50 mg/ kg per body weight and peritoneal injection streptozotocin. HIIT performed with intensity of 80-85% VO2max, 5 days a week and for 8 weeks. The expression of GLUT4 and PGC-1α genes were measured by Real Time PCR. Data were analyzed by One-way ANOVA and Bonferron's post hoc test at the P<0.05.

The results showed that there is a significant difference between the mean expression of GLUT4 and PGC-1α of skeletal muscle in diabetic rats in different groups (P=0.000). The changes in the expression of GLUT4 and PGC-1α of the skeletal muscle in the diabetes group were significantly lower than the 8-week control group (P=0.036). HIIT significantly higher the expression of GLUT4 and PGC-1α (P=0.000).

According to the findings of the present study, HIIT can help reduce the complications of diabetes by improving cellular energy levels as a result of increasing the expression of PGC-1α and GLUT4 in skeletal muscle.