Background and objectives: Elderly is characterized by decreased cardiac function, which is widely associated with mitochondrial failure in cell death. Elderly causes heart apoptosis. Although the old heart is vulnerable to apoptosis, physical training and some supplements through different mechanisms could be effective in reducing apoptosis. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of interval training on some apoptotic parameters of Bax and Bcl2 cardiomyocytes in old female rats. Methods: In an experimental study, 49 Wistar female rats (2 years old) were randomly assigned into 7 groups: control, saline, curcumin, moderate intensity training, moderate intensity training + curcumin, high intensity training, high intensity training + curcumin. The experimental groups received gavage doses of curcumin 30 mg / kg body weight three days a week via. The saline group also received the same amount of saline. Training groups had moderate and severe exercises on the treadmill for eight weeks, and three sessions per week. Forty-eight hours after the last training session and gavage, the animals were killed and their heart tissues were isolated to determine the levels of Bax and Bcl2. Results: The results indicated that interval training and curcumin consumption could significantly increase the levels of Bcl2 and BAX and the BAX / Bcl2 ratio, the amount of which depends on the intensity of training. Moreover, the combination of training and curcumin had an antagonistic effect. Conclusion: According to the results, physical activity and curcumin separately have a protective effect on the heart tissue; however, these two interventions do not enhance each other's effect. Hence each one is suggested to be used separately.

Background: Autophagy is a genetically and evolutionarily conserved programmed process that destroys long-lived cellular proteins and organelles. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of eight weeks of strength training with alpha-lipoic acid supplementation on Becline-1 and malondialdehyde concentrations in elderly diabetic rats. Methods: In this experimental study, 35 old male Wistar rats were randomly divided into five groups (healthy control, diabetic, diabetic + strength training, diabetic + supplement, diabetic + strength training + supplement). At first, the rats became diabetic and had fatty liver. Then strength training program was performed in eight weeks. Alpha-lipoic acid supplement was also injected three days a week. At the end of the training period, tissues were removed, and the expression of Becline-1 was measured by RT-PCR, and malondialdehyde concentration was measured by TBA laboratory method. For data analysis, a one-way analysis variance test was used for between-groups comparison (P < 0.05). Results: The results showed that strength training program and in combination with alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) supplementation significantly reduced Becline-1 (P = 0.001) and malondialdehyde compared to the healthy and diabetic control groups (P = 0.000). Conclusions: Strength exercise combined with ALA supplementation has a significant role in reducing the rate of autophagy and can reduce fatty liver in elderly type 2 diabetic rats.

Background: Apoptosis is a type of programmed cell death in extracellular organisms. High-intensity interval training and curcumin can make some changes in this process. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the role of intense interval training with curcumin supplementation on BAX and Bcl-2 proteins and caspase-3 enzyme activity in rats. Methods: In this study, 48 elderly rats were randomly divided into four groups: (1) control, (2) training, (3) curcumin, and (4) training + curcumin. Then, high-intensity interval training group rats ran on the treadmill for eight weeks, five sessions per week, for 30 - 50 min, and curcumin was fed to the supplement group at 25 mg/kg of body weight three times per week for eight weeks. Gene expression levels of BAX and Bcl-2 and myocardial caspase enzyme were measured in the heart tissue. The Shapiro-Wilk test, one-way ANOVA, and Tukey test were used for data analysis. Results: Curcumin consumption and intense interval training increased the expression of BAX (P = 0.001), Bcl-2 (P = 0.002), and caspase (P = 0.001). Besides, BAX, Bcl-2, and caspase genes expression significantly changed in the groups compared to the control group. The ratio of BAX to Bcl-2 in the curcumin group and interval training was significantly lower than the other groups. The Tukey post hoc test confirmed a significant difference between the groups and the control group. Conclusions: High-intensity interval training did not reduce BAX protein, but the training and curcumin supplementation increased Bcl-2 protein expression and neutralized the BAX effect. Curcumin supplementation combined with intense interval training resulted in synergy and reduced cell programming mortality.