neuroprotective effects of intense training and thyme honey on hippocampal cognitive pathways in diabetic rats

Unmanaged type 2 diabetes (dm2) is a known risk factor for cognitive decline, dementia, and alzheimer’s disease (dm3). this study explores the combined effects of high-intensity interval training (hiit) and thyme honey on the expression of genes involved in memory-related signaling pathways (bdnf-trkb-creb), which are compromised in both dm2 and dm3. this experimental study involved 36 young male wistar rats, divided into four groups: control (c), hiit (t), thyme honey (h), and hiit-thyme honey (th). the t and th groups underwent 40 training sessions over two months, with progressively increasing intervals (from 2 to 8) and intensity (from 80% to 95% of maximum running speed). concurrently, the h and th groups were administered 3 g/kg of thyme honey 5 days a week. changes in bdnf, trkb, and creb gene expression were assessed using rt-pcr. the data were analyzed through one-way anova, bonferroni post hoc test, and univariate analysis using spss-22 software. a significant increase in bdnf and creb expression in the interactive intervention group and the expression of the trkb gene in honey intervention groups were observed compared to diabetic control (p≥0.001). the interactive intervention with hiit exercises and thyme honey has a synergistic effect on increasing gene expression in memory-related pathways. the highest effect size was observed for hiit training on bdnf (ef=0.667) and creb (ef=0.540), while the honey intervention showed a significant effect size on trkb (ef=0.666).