The Effect of Eight-week Sprint Interval Training on Hippocampal Oxidative Stress Markers in Adult Male Wistar Rats

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of sprint interval training on hippocampal oxidative stress markers hippocampus of adult male Wistar rats. This is an experimental study in which 16 male Wistar rats were obtained, and after environmental adaptation and reaching target weight range randomly divided into two equal groups: control (CO) and sprint interval training (SIT). The SIT was performed for 8 weeks, 3 sessions per week, 4-9 repetitions of 10 seconds with 60 secs of active recovery between intervals. Forty-eight hours after the last exercise session the rats were anesthetized and the hippocampus was dissected and level of malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) were assessed in hippocampus homogenate. The independent samples T test was used for data analysis (P<0.05). There were no significant difference between the SIT and CO groups in the hippocampal GPx, TAC and MDA levels (p < 0.05). However, the activity level of SOD in the SIT group was significantly higher than the CO group (p<0.05). The present research revealed that despite its strenuous nature, SIT did not induce oxidative stress in the hippocampus and trend of changes in GPx and TAC, as well as observed significant increase in SOD activity levels suggests that it may have favorable effects on hippocampus oxidative- antioxidative status.