A period of intense intermittent exercise increases the expression of the mir146a gene in the hippocampus and decreases the levels of blood sugar, insulin and insulin resistance in elderly rats.

Aging is a universal, inherent, progressive and damaging process that is related to systemic inflammation. mir146a is a negative regulator of inflammation whose levels have been shown to decrease with age. The aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of eight weeks of intense intermittent exercise on the expression of mir146a, blood sugar, insulin and insulin resistance in the hippocampus of aged male rats.

In this study, 20 Wistar male rats aged 18-21 months with an average weight of 280±20 grams were selected. Then they were randomly divided into 2 groups, 1: HIIT training (10 rats) 2: control (10 rats). The training group trained 5 days a week according to the intense interval training program for 8 weeks. did sports. The expression levels of mir146a, blood sugar, insulin and insulin resistance were measured. In data analysis, independent t-test was used and the data were analyzed using GraphPad Prism version 8 software at a significance level of P <0.05

The results showed that eight weeks of intense intermittent training increased the expression of miR146a in the training group compared to the control group (p<001). The level of blood sugar, insulin and insulin resistance in the exercise group had a significant decrease compared to the control (p<001).

It seems that eight weeks of HIIT training can prevent hippocampal atrophy by increasing the expression of mir146a. Probably, HIIT exercises can be a suitable non-therapeutic mechanism for elderly people to prevent or cognitive complications