negative effect of high-calorie high-salt diet on spleen oxidant/antioxidants and structure: preventive effects of sprint interval training

Objective: we investigated the effect of a high-calorie high-salt diet and sprint interval training on oxidant/antioxidant status and structural changes in the spleen of male wistar rats.materials and methods: eighteen male wistar rats were randomized into three groups: normal diet (nd), high-calorie high-salt diet (hcsd), and hcsd + sprint interval training (hcsd+sit). rats in hcsd and hcsd+sit groups were under a high-calorie high-salt diet. the sit (4-9 reps of 10 s duration sprints) performed 3 sessions/week for 8 weeks. forty-eight hours after the last training session, spleen was removed and used for the assessment of oxidant/antioxidant status and histomorphometric parameters.results: results revealed that compared to the nd group, superoxide dismutase (sod) activity, glutathione peroxidase (gpx) level, and total antioxidant capacity (tac) were significantly lower (p<0.001) and malondialdehyde (mda) level was significantly higher in the spleen tissue of the hcsd group (p<0.001) and there was no significant difference between the hcsd+sit and nd groups in none of the assessed variables (p>0.05). moreover, there was a significant increase in the red to white pulp ratio and a significant decrease in the number of lymph cells and splenic trabecular volume in the hcsd group (p<0.001). nonetheless, in none of the assessed morphometric parameters, a significant difference was observed between the hcsd+sit and nd groups (p>0.05).conclusion: it seems that sit training may avert hcsd-induced unfavourable changes in the spleen oxidant/antioxidant status and counteract the deleterious effects of the hcsd on the spleen structure.