The effect of two types of exercise training (continuous and intermittent) and atorvastatin on the expression of VEGF and MMP2 genes in aortic tissue of diabetic rats

It has been shown that about 80% of deaths in diabetic patients are caused by cardiovascular disorders, which is called diabetic heart disease. The purpose of this research was to investigate the effect of two types of exercise (continuous and periodic) and the drug atorvastatin on the expression of VEGF and MMP2 genes in the aorta tissue of diabetic rats. In this study, 40 male rats, which were randomly divided into 8 groups: 1) control, 2) diabetic, 3) diabetic+continuous, 4) diabetic+intermittent, 5) atorvastatin, 6) continuous + atorvastatin, 7) intermittent + atorvastatin and 8) saline. Rats performed two types of continuous and periodic training 5 days a week for 8 weeks. Atorvastatin was injected intraperitoneally at a daily dose of 20 mg per kilogram of body weight. To determine the significance of the difference between groups, one-way analysis of variance and Tukey's post hoc test were used. MMP2 levels in the diabetes group significantly increased at the significance level of 0.05 compared to the control group and in the supplement, intermittent, intermittent-supplement and continuous-supplement groups significantly decreased compared to the diabetes group. The levels of VEGF in the diabetes group increased significantly compared to the control and the intermittent-supplement group significantly decreased compared to the diabetes group. There is a possibility that intermittent exercise in combination with atorvastatin can have a protective effect on the aorta through the reduction of VEGF and MMP2 genes in the aortic tissue and the improvement of angiogenesis that was impaired due to the induction of diabetes.