The pattern of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha gene expression in type-2 diabetes mellitus rat model liver: Focus on exercise

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha (PGC-1α) has an important role in mitochondria biogenesis which generated cellular metabolism. Carbohydrate metabolism in the liver is crucial to maintain plasma blood glucose. AIM: This research aimed to determine the expression of PGC-1α gene in the liver type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) rat model, after treatment with a focus on exercise. METHODS: We used 25 healthy male Wistar rats as subjects. Rats were modified to T2DM models by feeding a high-fat diet and low-dose streptozotocin injection. We divided the rats into five groups, that is, sedentary group as a control and four others as treatment groups. The exercise was assigned for treatment groups by a run on the treadmill as moderate intensity continuous (MIC), highintensity continuous (HIC), slow interval (SI), and fast interval (FI). The treatment groups were exercise throughout 8 weeks with a frequency of 3 times a week. RESULTS: The results showed that expression of PGC-1α gene was lower in all treatment groups compared to controls (p < 0.05). Expression in HIC was higher than MIC (p < 0.05), so was the expression in FI more than SI (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Exercise affected PGC-1α gene expression in the liver of the T2DM rat model. The expression of PGC-1α was linear with exercise intensity.