impacts of endurance training and crocin supplementation on the apoptotic pathways in rat skeletal muscle following doxorubicin administration

Background and aims: doxorubicin (dox), in addition to its anti-cancer properties, causes toxicity and increases the apoptosis of healthy tissues. the objective of the current research was to explore the concurrent influence of an eight-week aerobic training regimen combined with crocin supplementation on the apoptosis induced by dox within the soleus muscle tissue of male rodents. methods: in this study, a cohort of 40 male wistar rats, each weighing between 200 and 220 g and approximately 8 weeks old, were systematically distributed into five distinct experimental clusters, including a healthy control (normal saline) and a patient control (intraperitoneal injection of 2 mg/kg of dox ). the other clusters were dox-exercise (intraperitoneal injection of 2 mg/kg of dox with eight weeks of treadmill/5 days a week), dox-crocin (intraperitoneal injection of 2 mg/kg) 2 kg of dox along with 10 mg/kg of crocin extract/8 weeks), and dox-exercise-crocin. results: the administration of dox was associated with a notable elevation in bax and a reduction in bcl-2 expression (p=0.001 and p=0.001). in contrast, engaging in eight weeks of aerobic exercise, ingesting crocin, or a synergistic approach combining both interventions resulted in a marked upregulation of bcl-2 expression (p=0.001). this combined treatment also led to a significant diminution in the bax mrna (p=0.006) and a decrease in the bax/bcl-2 ratio (p=0.001) within the soleus muscle tissue of male rodents subjected to dox exposure. conclusion: aerobic exercise with crocin supplementation could inhibit apoptosis caused by dox in the soleus muscle of male rats.