effect of high-intensity interval training and coenzyme q10 supplementation on cardiac apoptosis in obese male rats

Background: obesity is associated with several metabolic disorders and myocardial apoptosis. the aim of this study was to determine the effect of high-intensity interval training (hiit) and coenzyme q10 (coq10) supplementation on myocardial apoptotic proteins in obese male rats. methods: forty-eight male wistar rats were randomly assigned to 6 groups including non-obese control (noc), baseline obese control (boc), hiit, coq10, hiit + coq10, and control. noc and boc groups were sacrificed at the beginning of the study. exercise groups were subjected to a hiit program over 12 weeks. rats in coq10 group were gavage-fed with 500 mg/kg^-1 coq10 supplement throughout the study. the heart muscle was removed 48 hours after the last training session. the b-cell lymphoma-2 (bcl-2), bcl-2-associated x protein (bax), cytochrome c, bh3-interacting domain death agonist (bid), caspase-8, and caspase-3 protein expressions were analyzed using western blotting. data were analyzed using independent t-test and two-way analysis of variance (anova). results: the bax, bid, cytochrome c, caspase-8, caspase-3 proteins, and bax/bcl-2 were significantly higher in boc group compared to noc (p = 0.025, p = 0.0001, p = 0.013, p = 0.017, p = 0.010, p = 0.180, respectively). moreover, bcl-2 protein was lower in boc compared to noc group (p = 0.025). hiit program decreased bax/bcl-2 ratio (p = 0.012), bid (p = 0.0001), cytochrome c (p = 0.003), caspase-8 (p = 0.006), and caspase-3 (p = 0.002) proteins and increased bcl-2 (p = 0.001) proteins in heart muscle. coq10 supplementation significantly increased bcl-2 protein content (p = 0.001). conclusion: hiit exerts an anti-apoptotic effect in heart muscle of obese rats. although the administration of coq10 increased bcl-2 anti-apoptotic protein, it did not show a potent synergistic effect along with hiit to reduce obesity-related myocardial apoptosis.