Impact of two-month sodium citrate supplementation along with moderate-intensity continuous training on PGC-1α and Nrf2 expression in diabetic rats

Sports activity increases PGC1α and Nrf2, the regulatory factors of mitochondrial biogenesis. This paper aims to study the impact of two-month sodium citrate supplementation with Moderate-Intensity Continuous Training (MICT) on PGC-1α and Nrf2 expression in diabetic rats.

Forty-five three-month-old male Wistar rats were haphazardly assigned to one of five equal groups (N=9): (1) healthy; (2) diabetic; (3) diabetes + exercise (DE); (4) diabetes+ supplementation (DS); and (5) diabetic + exercise + supplementation (DSE), matched according to their weights. After induction, exercises began on a treadmill for 8 weeks, five days a week. The MICT protocol ran at 70% of their maximum speed for 36 minutes. The rats supplemented with sodium-citrate- at 15 mmol/L in drinking water for two months. PGC-1α and Nrf2 expression were measured through Western blotting in the soleus muscle. Data were analyzed using univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the Tukey post-hoc test. Cohen’s D effect size (ES) was calculated to compare the groups.

The results showed that induction of diabetes significantly reduced the expression of PGC-1α (P< 0.001; ES=1.36) and Nrf2 (P<0.088; ES=0.24), while exercise increased PGC-1α expression (P<0.001; ES=0.68). Sodium citrate supplementation, either alone or in combination with MICT activity, did not show a clear advantage for Nrf2 expression.

MICT activity and sodium citrate supplementation, by increasing PGC-1α expression, can be considered therapeutic strategies for diabetic patients. However, to increase Nrf2 expression, further studies with different exercise intensities and doses of sodium citrate supplementation are needed.