the effect of strenuous endurance training in combination with zingiber supplementation on serum interleukin-17 and skeletal muscle total oxidant in male rats

Background: this study aimed to investigate the effect of 8 weeks of strenuous endurance training (et) with ginger extract supplementation on resting levels of serum interleukin-17 (il-17) and total antioxidant capacity (tac) of muscle in male wistar rats. methods: forty rats were divided randomly into five groups: control (n = 8), sham (n = 8), zingier (n = 8), et (n = 8), and et + zingiber (n = 8). the training protocols consisted of et on a treadmill for 8 weeks (5 days a week). ginger extract (100 g/kg body weight) was injected subcutaneously in the ginger group and et + zingiber group for 8 weeks (3 days a week) from the beginning of the second week. forty-eight hours after the last training session and 4 hours of overnight fasting, blood and tissue samples were collected. the serum concentration of il-17 was measured using the elisa method by bt kit, china. tac concentration of muscle tissue was measured using the colorimetric method with zelbio kits, germany. one-way analysis of variance (anova) and scheffe’ post hoc tests were used to analyze the data. results: this study showed that after 8 weeks, serum levels of il-17 were significantly higher in the et groups than in the control group (p < 0.05). also, serum il-17 was significantly decreased in the et + ginger group than the endurance group (p < 0.05). however, there was no significant difference in tac of muscle tissue in the et, ginger, and et + ginger groups than the control group (p < 0.05). conclusions: this study demonstrated that 8 weeks of endurance training, combined with ginger supplementation, significantly reduced the inflammatory marker of il-17. therefore, ginger supplementation with endurance training seems to have a protective role against oxidative and inflammatory factors.