Objective:
This study aimed to examine the effects of moderate (MIT) and high-intensity training (HIT) chronic exercise on plasma tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) level and its impact on Langerhans islet morphology in healthy rats.
Methods:
Two-month old normal male Wistar rats were divided into three groups: control (C, n= 6), MIT (n= 6), and HIT (n= 4). The training protocol consisted in 24 sessions of running on a treadmill at 60-80% maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) for MIT, and> 80% VO2max for HIT. TNF-α and insulin were measured with ELISA tests. Duodenal pancreas was dissected to analyze the Langerhans islets by immunohistochemistry, a correlation analysis was performed with the nuclei/total islet area.
Results:
HIT and MIT rats showed lower TNF-α plasma levels than controls. Plasma insulin level decreased significantly in HIT compared with C and MIT. In addition, the islet area and nuclei density per islet were higher in the exercise groups compared with C. However, none of the groups showed PD1 immunoreactivity.
Conclusions:
Under healthy conditions, the chronic exercise reduced plasmatic TNF-α level, and in the same sense, increased the size of the Langerhans islets, depending to the exercise intensity.