combined effects of regular aerobic exercise with vitamin d supplementation on some apoptosis indices in the lung of rats exposed to hydrogen peroxide

Background and objectives: exercise is a strong physiological stimulus that can affect apoptosis in the lungs by altering a number of extracellular and intracellular signaling pathways. the present study examined effects of regular aerobic exercise and vitamin d on expression of bcl2, bax and caspase3 in lung tissues of male rats exposed to hydrogen peroxide.methods: fortyeight adult male wistar rats were randomly assigned into six groups of eight, including 2 x h 2 o 2, 2h 2 o 2, vit d (2hd), 2h2o2 + regular exercise training (2he), 2h2o2 + d3 + e (2hde) ; dimethyl sulfoxide (dmso) and control (c). subjects in the training groups performed aerobic exercise for eight weeks. bax, bcl2, caspase3 expression in the lung tissues was measured using rtpcr.results: bcl2 expression in the exercise (p = 0.004) and vitamin d (p = 0.006) groups increased significantly compared to the control groups. bax, bcl2 and caspase3 expression was significantly lower in the exercise group and vitamin d supplementation group compared to the control group. on the other hand, concurrent exercise and vitamin d significantly reduce bax expression but had no significant effect on bcl2 and caspase3 expression.conclusion: our results demonstrate that regular aerobic exercise along with vitamin d supplementation may play a role in reducing apoptosis in lungs following severe oxidative stress.keywords: apoptosis, bcl2, bax, caspase3, aerobic exercise, vitamin d