the regulation of the concentrations of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha and sirtuin 1 protein in the soleus muscle by aerobic exercise training in obese wistar rats

Background: peroxisome proliferatoractivated receptor gamma coactivator 1alpha (pgc1a) and sirtuin 1 (sirt1) are significant indicators of obesity and other metabolic disorders. objectives: the present study aimed to investigate the regulation of the concentrations of pgc1a and sirt1 protein in the soleus muscle by aerobic exercise training in obese wistar rats.methods: this study was conducted on 24 obese male rats, which were randomly categorized into three groups of control, mediumintensity training (28 m/min), and highintensity training (34 m/min) after obesity induction through a highfat diet. a series of aerobic trainings in five sessions of 60minute aerobic training per week was performed for eight weeks. data analysis was performed using oneway anova to examine the mean differences between the groups. in addition, tukey’s posthoc test was used for the paired comparisons of the groups.results: significant differences were observed in the concentrations of the pgc1a (p < 0.001) and sirt1 proteins between the study groups (p < 0.001). tukey’s posthoc test revealed a significant difference between the moderateintensity aerobic exercise and control groups (p < 0.01) regarding their mean concentration of the pgc1a protein. however, the high and moderateintensity groups showed no difference in this regard (p < 0.028). moreover, there was a significant difference in the concentration of the sirt1 protein between the moderateintensity aerobic exercise and control groups (p < 0.02), and the highintensity training and control groups (p < 0.005). conclusions: according to the results, aerobic exercise training could activate sirt1 and pgc1a and might enhance mitochondrial biogenesis in the subcutaneous fat. therefore, aerobic training is recommended as a therapeutic approach to obesity and several other metabolic diseases.