Effect of Eight Weeks of Endurance Training and Stevia Supplemention on Atrial Natriuretic Peptide and β-Myosin Heavy Chain Expression Levels in Heart Tissue of Rats With Type 1 Diabetes

Background: The effects of exercise and stevia extract on diabetes-related indicators have been already reported, but their cardiac benefits on Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) are unclear. Objective: This study aims to evaluate the effect of eight weeks of endurance training and stevia supplementation on gene expression levels of Atrial Natriuretic Peptide (ANP) and β-Myosin Heavy Chain (β-MHC) in the heart tissue of T1D rats. Methods: In this experimental study, 25 rats with the average weight of 250-300 g were divided into five groups; healthy control, diabetic control, diabetic+supplementation, diabetic+training, and diabetic+training+supplementation. T1D was induced by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (55 mg/kg/ body weight). Endurance training was performed 5 days a week at a speed of 20-30 meters per minute on a surface with a zero slope for 8 weeks. Stevia was gavaged in a dose of 250 mg/kg/body weight. Rats were slaughtered 48 hours after the last training session. Cardiac tissue was used to measure the parameters. The gene expression of ANP and b-MHC in cardiac tissue was measured by real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) method. Data were analyzed by using one-way ANOVA and Bonferroni post hoc test. Findings: The gene expression levels of ANP and β-MHC were significantly higher in the diabetic control group compared to the healthy control group (P=0.001), and significantly lower in the diabetic+training and diabetic+training+supplementation groups compared to the diabetic control group (P=0.001). Conclusion: Endurance training and stevia supplementation can have beneficial effects on the heart of T1D rats.