concomitant l-carnitine supplementation and exercise training affects apoptosis in male rats

Background: apoptosis is a defensive measure that removes dysfunctional cells. exercise training has a broad spectrum of benefits that influence apoptosis and cell viability. l-carnitine (lcar), a supplement nowadays, has shown beneficial effects against cell death. we investigated the simultaneous effect of exercise training (acute exercise [ae] and high-intensity interval training [hiit]) and lcar supplementation on the proteins involved in apoptosis. the animals were anesthetized twenty-four hours after the conclusion of the final training session.methods: forty-eight male wistar rats (210±10 g) were assigned to six groups (n=8) as follows: control, lcar (200 mg/kg/d lcar, ip), ae, hiit, lcar+ae, and lcar+hiit. the animals were anesthetized and sacrificed twenty-four hours after the last training session; the rats’ blood sample was collected, and the serum was separated. the serum bcl-2 levels, as an anti-apoptotic factor, and caspase-3 and bax, as proapoptotic factors, were measured using specific elisa kits.results: ae increased apoptosis, but hiit’s effects were almost neutral. lcar administration in groups that performed either ae or hiit significantly attenuated apoptosis. however, in group 6 (lcar+hiit), the anti-apoptotic effects were noteworthy because lcar+hiit significantly increased bcl-2 and reduced caspase-3 levels compared to the control group.conclusion: hiit improved cell viability through increasing bcl-2 levels, and lcar strengthened hiit’s anti-apoptotic properties. ae increased proapoptotic proteins, and lcar modified the elevated proapoptotic markers in the ae group. therefore, lcar may be considered a promising supplement against exercise-mediated injury. this study can be extended to humans to evaluate the beneficial effects of lcar+hiit and lcar+ae.