Effect of Six Weeks of Interval Training on Expression of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor in Male Rat High Fat Diet

VEGF is an important angiogenic factor whose expression and plasma levels are affected by obesity and its effects can be health-promoting or disease-inducing. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of six weeks of interval training on vascular smooth muscle VEGF gene expression in male rats on a high-fat diet. In an experimental study, 40 male rats were randomly divided into four groups: 1) control (standard diet), 2) high fat diet 1 (eight weeks high fat diet), 3) high fat diet 2 (14 weeks high fat diet), and 4) High-fat diet and intermittent exercise. Animals in groups 2 to 5 first ate a high-fat diet (60% of calories from fat) for eight weeks. In the eighth week of the high-fat diet group 1, in order to determine the level of VEGF at the beginning of the training intervention, facilitation and sampling were performed. Periodic training consisted of 5 to 12 60-second runs of 24 to 32 meters per minute and light work intervals of 75 seconds for six weeks (to ensure oxidative compatibility with interval training) and five days a week. Real Time PCR technique was measured. Mann-Whitney test was run to compare the groups.

The results of the present study showed that eight weeks of high-fat diet significantly increased the expression of VEGF gene in vascular smooth muscle of male rats compared to the control group (P =0.001 .(VEGF gene expression was significantly lower after 14 weeks of high-fat diet (P =0.005( compared with that in eight weeks. Also, VEGF gene expression after six weeks of interval training was significantly lower than that in eight weeks of high-fat diet (P = 0.001 (and was not significantly different from the 14-week high-fat and control groups.

Interval training can possibly reduce angiogenesis by reducing VEGF expression in visceral adipose tissue vessels and thus preventing adipose tissue development.