the effect of shortterm treadmill exercise on the expression level of tfam in the heart of nicotinesensitized rats

Introduction: tfam (mitochondrial transcription factor a) is involved in mitochondrial biogenesis and induces antioxidant and antiapoptotic effects. nicotine can also alter the function of cardiovascular system and induce heart failure and other heart diseases. interestingly, it has been reported that exercise can interfere with the effects of nicotine, and change the expression pattern of different genes. the goal of the present study was to investigate the effect of shortterm treadmill exercise on the expression level of tfam in the heart of nicotinesensitized rats.materials and methods: nicotine was administered intraperitoneally at the dose of 0.21 mg/kg. treadmill exercise was performed during 14 days, according to the study’s protocol.results: the results revealed that nicotine reduced the expression of tfam. the treadmill (fourteenday training) increased the expression of tfam in the heart of the control rats. furthermore, 14day training with treadmill restored the effect of nicotine on the expression of tfam in nicotinesensitized rats.conclusion: nicotine induced proapoptotic and antioxidative stress effects via downregulating the expression of tfam. fourteen day training with treadmill induced a protective effect against nicotineinduced cardiac apoptosis and oxidative stress, via restoring the effect of nicotine on tfam. the results are indicative of the fact that shortterm treadmill exercise may decrease the risk of heart failure and other cardiac diseases.