Comparison of the Effect of Eight Weeks of Aerobic and Resistance Training with Quercetin Supplementation on Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) in Cardiac Tissue of Male Wistar Rats

Exercise has an effective role in physical and mental health by reducing the health risk factors.
The study aimed to compare the effect of eight weeks of aerobic and resistance training with quercetin supplementation on VEGF of cardiac tissue in rats. 35 Rats with an age average of 8-10 weeks were randomly divided into 7 groups (aerobic, resistance, aerobic + supplement, resistance + supplement, supplement, sham, and control). After two weeks of familiarity with the environment and learning the exercise, The Exercise groups practiced according to the protocol for 8 weeks. The groups that should have received supplements received quercetin supplement at the rate of 50 mg/kg three days a week for 8 weeks as a peritoneal injection. 48 hours after the last training intervention, rats were anesthetized and killed using CO2. The, samples were taken from the heart of rats. ELISA method was used to measure VEGF concentration. One-way ANOVA and Tukey Post Hoc test in P≤0.05 level by SPSS 22 was employed.
The results showed that eight weeks of aerobic and resistance training and aerobic with quercetin significantly increased the VEGF concentration of rat heart compared to the control group (P≤0.05), while, there was no significant difference in the level of VEGF in heart tissue compared to the control group and supplement (P=0.148).
In general, quercetin consumption inhibited angiogenesis, while, it did not happen in the supplement + aerobic group (P=0.011), that means that aerobic has overcome the inhibitory effects of quercetin on angiogenesis.