Evaluation of heat-shock protein A2 (HSPA2) expression in diabetic male rats after exercise training

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of aerobic exercise on HSPA2 expression in testes and sperm parameters in diabetic rats.

Two-month-old male wistar rats were randomly divided into three groups (n=10 in each group): control (C), diabetic (D) and diabetic training (DT). Diabetes was induced with a single intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin. The DTrats were conditioned to run on a treadmill for the 8-week period. 48 hours after the last session, the testes were removed, and subjected to histological examination, semen analysis and total RNA was isolated from testes to measure by RT-qPCRHSPA2 mRNA expression level. The variance analysis test were applied to analyze the data (P<0.05).

Findings show that the D group had a decrease in sperm count (P=0.01), motility (P=0.001), as well as increase in abnormal sperm morphology (P=0.001). Furthermore, in the D group, HSPA2 expressionin testicular tissue was significantly reduced (P=0.01). Unlike the D group, in the DT group sperm count (P=0.04) and viability (P=0.02), and HSPA2 expression (P=0.03) were elevated.

In rat testes, diabetes down regulates HSPA2 expression, which is collectively detrimental to semen parameters. Exercise protected effectively against this detrimental effect.