Aerobic interval exercise improves parameters of Non Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) and other alterations of metabolic syndrome in obese Zucker rats

This study was funded by grant P09- AGR-4658 from Junta de Andalucía, Spain, and is part of the PhD thesis of Garyfallia Kapravelou, entitled “Effects of legume protein hydrolyzates on lipid metabolism in an obese rat experimental model. Interaction with aerobic physical exercise.” Gene expression work was carried out at Robert Gordon University and was funded by the Institute for Health and Wellbeing Research. The authors also want to acknowledge the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO, Spain) and the European Union through project no. AGL2013-43247-R and FEDER program, respectively. ; Metabolic syndrome (MS) is a group of metabolic alterations that increase the susceptibility to cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease has been described as the liver manifestation of MS. We aimed to test the beneficial effects of an aerobic interval training (AIT) protocol on different biochemical, microscopic, and functional liver alterations related to the MS in the experimental model of obese Zucker rat. Two groups of lean and obese animals (6 weeks old) followed a protocol of AIT (4 min at 65%–80% of maximal oxygen uptake, followed by 3 min at 50%–65% of maximal oxygen uptake for 45–60 min, 5 days/week, 8 weeks of experimental period), whereas 2 control groups remained sedentary. Obese rats had higher food intake and body weight (P < 0.0001) and suffered significant alterations in plasma lipid profile, area under the curve after oral glucose overload (P < 0.0001), liver histology and functionality, and antioxidant status. The AIT protocol reduced the severity of alterations related to glucose and lipid metabolism and increased the liver protein expression of PPAR , as well as the gene expression of glutathione peroxidase 4 (P < 0.001). The training protocol also showed significant effects on the activity of hepatic antioxidant enzymes, although this action was greatly influenced by rat phenotype. The present data suggest that AIT protocol is a feasible strategy to ...