protective effect of continuous aerobic training and crocin on doxorubicin-induced apoptosis in the heart tissue of rats

Background: doxorubicin (dox) is widely used to treat various cancers, but its cardio-toxicity restricts its therapeutic application. objectives: this study aimed to investigate the effect of 8 weeks of continuous aerobic training (cat) and administration of crocin (cr) on the apoptotic index and the expression of bax and bcl-2 genes on the dox-induced cardio-toxicity of rats. methods: in this experimental study, 50 male wistar rats were randomly divided into 5 groups, including control, dox, dox + cat, dox + cr, and dox + cat + cr groups. continuous aerobic training consisted of 60 minutes of running with the intensity of 40% - 60% of maximum speed (5 days/week). apoptotic index and the expression levels of bax and bcl-2 genes were determined in the heart tissue. results: doxorubicin significantly increased bax gene expression in the heart tissue of animals (p < 0.001). in contrast, bcl-2 gene expression significantly decreased (p < 0.001). in all experimental groups, the bax/bcl-2 ratio and the percentage of the terminal deoxynucleotidal transferase-mediated biotin-deoxyuridine triphosphate nick-end labeling (tunel)-positive cells were significantly diminished compared to the dox-intoxicated animals. among experimental groups, cat had more antiapoptotic effects against dox-induced cardiac toxicity. conclusions: continuous aerobic training and cr, alone or in combination, could attenuate dox-induced cardiotoxicity by suppressing apoptosis in the rats.