Effect of Eight Weeks of Resistance Training with Spirulina Platensis Ingestion on the Heart Weight and Cardiac C/EBPβ Expression in Male Rats

Abstract

Background: Resistance training and Spirulina consumption could change the expression of the gene involved in hypertrophy. Objectives: The study investigated the effect of eight weeks of resistance training with Spirulina platensis ingestion on the heart weight and cardiac CCAAT-enhancer-binding proteins beta (C/EBPβ) expression in male rats. Methods: We divided 32 male Sprague Dally rats into four groups: control (CO; n = 8), Spirulina platensis (SP; n = 8), resistance training (RE; n = 8), and Spirulina plus resistance training (SP + RE; n = 8). The resistance training group practiced five sessions a week for eight weeks. Spirulina 200 mg/kg/day was used in the supplement group and the exercise plus Spirulina platensis group. Twenty-four hours after the last training session, the gene expression was measured using real-time PCR. Results: The results showed that resistance training significantly increased heart weight (P = 0.001) and left ventricular weight (P = 0.001) but significantly decreased CEBP (P = 0.001). Spirulina insignificantly increased heart weight (P = 0.46), significantly increased left ventricular weight (P = 0.001), and significantly decreased CEBP (P = 0.02). On the other hand, resistance training plus Spirulina significantly increased heart weight (P = 0.001) and left ventricular weight (P = 0.001) but had no significant effect on C/EBPβ reduction (P = 0.10). Conclusions: A combination of resistance training and Spirulina supplementation cannot have a significant effect on the important signaling factor in heart hypertrophy.

Effect of Resistance Training and Spirulina platensis on Expression of IL-6, Gp130 Cytokines, JAK-STAT Signaling in Male Rats Skeletal Muscle

“…After one week of maintenance in the laboratory (normal conditions), the animals were trained to climb a vertical ladder as the exercise for this study. The climbing familiarization sessions were conducted three to four times every day for a week without weights attached [17,18].…”

“…The weight selected at the start of training was 30% of the mice's body weight and increased to 100% of their weight in the last week (10% added to the previous load each week). The resistance training consisted of 3 sets of 5 repetitions with 1-min rest between each repetition and 2 min of rest between sets [17,18].…”

“…Each day, Spirulina platensis was added to the drinking water of rats in the SP and RE + SP groups at a dose of 200 mg kg −1 d −1 (Each rat was individually caged and the amount of water which contained the supplement; was measure daily) [17,18].…”

“…The animals from the four groups were sacrificed 24 h after the last training session [17,18]. Rats were anesthetized for 5 min by injecting with Ketamine 10% (50 mg kg −1 body mass) and xylosin 2% (10 mg kg −1 body mass) to measure the parameters [17,18]. Then quadriceps muscle was removed.…”