The interactive effects of resistance, endurance trainings and consumption of nettle extract on plasma apelin levels and weight changes in diabetic type 1 rats

Type 1 diabetes has been considered among of the metabolic diseases in various societies. Some research indicated that exercise and supplementation could have positive effects on the treatment of various diseases. The purpose of this study was to investigate the interactive effect of exercises and nettle consumption on the amount of apelin as an adipokine secreted from adipose tissue in rats with type1 diabetes mellitus.

For this purpose, 40 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups: control, nettle, resistance training+nettle, and endurance training+nettle groups. Using streptozotocin, type 1 diabetes was induced in all animals. All groups-except control group- received 1 mg/kg body weight daily of nettle extract. The "resistance training+nettle" group climbed a ladder with weights attached to the tail that gradually increased. Also, "endurance training+nettle" group practiced swimming. Training protocols were performed for eight weeks, and at the end of the eighth weeks, blood samples were taken directly from the left ventricle of the heart. Plasma apelin measurement was performed using the apelin laboratory kit by ELISA.  Dependent t-test for determine weight changes; one-way ANOVA and Tukey's test for compare averages and Pearson correlation coefficient for the relationship between variables were used for statistical analysis and the significance level was set as p

Apelin showed significant increase in "nettle" (p=0.04), "resistance training+nettle" (p=0.04), and "endurance training+nettle" groups compared to the control group (p=0.0001). Changes in this index in "endurance training+nettle" group were more significant than "nettle" (p=0.02) and "resistance training+nettle" (p=0.04) groups. A significant decrease was observed in "control," "nettle," and "resistance training+nettle" groups (p=0.0001) for the weight of animals between pre and post-test, but it was not significant in "endurance training+nettle" group (p=0.89).

Lack of weight losing and improvement in plasma apelin  levels in "endurance training+nettle" group in rats with type1 diabetes is probably due to the interactive effect of endurance training with the simultaneous of the nettle consumption.