high-intensity interval training ameliorates high-fat diet- induced elevation of aminotransferases in male wistar rats

Background and aims: a high-fat diet increases triglyceride (tg) accumulations in hepatocytes and results in non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases (naflds). in this regard, this study investigated the effect of high-intensity interval training (hiit), along with a high-fat diet on the serum levels of aminotransferases in male wistar rats. methods: forty male wistar rats were randomly assigned to the standard diet, high-fat diet, exercise + standard diet, and exercise + high-fat diet groups (each containing 10 animals). hiit program consisted of 6-12 repetitions of 2-minute highs-intensity exercise (85-90% of the maximum speed) interspersed with 1-minute low- intensity exercise (45-50% peak speed) with the frequency of 5 sessions a week over 12 weeks. high-fat diet groups received a diet regimen including 58% fat, 25% protein, and 17% carbohydrate, ad libitum. the blood samples were taken from the left ventricle 48 hours following the last intervention to assess tg, alanine aminotransferase (alt), and aspartate amino-transferase (ast) concentrations. data were analyzed using one-way anova and tukey’s post - hoc tests. results: the findings showed the mean of alt, ast, and tg in the high-fat diet group was significantly greater compared to the standard diet group (p = 0.001). furthermore, the mean of alt, ast, and tg in the exercise + high-fat diet group was significantly lower in comparison with the high-fat diet group (p = 0.01, p = 0.017, and p = 0.012, respectively). conclusion: although hiit ameliorated high-fat diet- induced elevations in the serum levels of tg, alt, and ast, they did not reach the baseline levels. thus, it may indicate that a diet as the underlying cause of naflds is more important than any other interventions such as exercise.