Influence of the use of testosterone associated with physical training on some hematologic and physical parameters in older rats with alloxan-induced diabetes

Abstract

Objective: This study investigated the possible blood changes in wistar rats elderly with and without treatment with anabolic steroids submitted physical training.

Materials and methods: Elderly rats (32) were divided into four groups: normal (N), treated normal (NT), diabetic (D) and treated diabetic (DT). They were submitted to 20 sessions of swimming with overload (5% body weight), 40 min/day for four weeks. The NT and DT groups received application of testosterone twice a week. At the end of the sessions, the animals were subjected to swimming until exhaustion and then killed for removal of blood and visceral fat. We evaluated maximum swim time, weight of visceral fat, erythrogram, leukogram, lipidogram and serum levels of glucose, lactate, aspartate aminotransferase and creatine kinase. The results were compared using one-way ANOVA followed by the post hoc Tukey test.

Results: In elderly diabetic rats, the use of anabolic associated with physical training in older rats resulted in improvement in erythrogram, lipidogram and physical performance for high-intensity aerobic exercise. However, it was related to changes in leukocyte count, probably associated with inflammation.

Conclusion: The combination of the use of testosterone with physical training, followed by maximal effort test caused changes hematological and biochemical can be associated with improvement in physiological characteristics, with increase of the swimming time and decrease of visceral fat levels, improvement in aerobic metabolism of fatty acids and glucose in normal and diabetic animals.

Figure 1. Plasma concentrations of triacylglycerols, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol after the maximal exercise test. The symbols N, NT, D and DT represent normal, treated normal, diabetic and treated diabetic rats, respectively. Values with the same symbol are significantly different (p < 0.05) when compared by Tukey test.

Figure 2. Plasma concentrations of glucose and lactate before and after the maximal exercise test. The symbols N, NT, D and DT represent normal, treated normal, diabetic and treated diabetic rats, respectively. Values with the same symbol are significantly different (p < 0.05) when compared by Tukey test.

Figure 3. Plasma levels of activities of the enzymes aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and creatine kinase (CK) after the maximal exercise test. The symbols N, NT, D and DT represent normal, treated normal, diabetic and treated diabetic rats, respectively. Values with the same symbol are significantly different (p < 0.05) when compared by Tukey test.