The effect of exercise type and herbal supplement on the expression of mitophagic genes in obese female rats' pancreas

Background and purpose: Physical activity and medicinal herbs can each reduce obesity's harmful effects through different mechanisms, including the effect on mitochondrial mitophagy. Since the simultaneous effect of regular physical activity and medicinal herbs on the expression of genes responsible for mitophagy is not well known, the aim of the present study was to investigate and compare the effects of aerobic and resistance training and herbal supplement consumption on the expression of genes of the mitophagy pathway in the pancreatic tissue of obese female rats. Methods: In an experimental study, 42 young female Wistar rats (12 weeks old and weighing 180-200 g) were obtained from the Pasteur Institute of Karaj, Iran and selected as subjects. One week after familiarization and adaptation to the adapted environment, the animals were randomly divided into 7 groups (6 rats per group) including: 1. Aerobic exercise-herbal supplement (AT-S), 2. Resistance exercise-herbal supplement (RT-S), 3. Aerobic exercise (AT), 4. Resistance exercise (RT), 5. Herbal supplements (S), 6. Controlled fed with a high-fat diet and 7. Control- fed with a normal diet. Forty-eight hours after the last training session, after ensuring complete anesthesia, pancreatic tissue was removed to measure the expression of PINK1 and Parkin genes and stored at -85°C until measurement. Results : PINK1 gene expression in pancreatic tissue was significantly higher in aerobic exercise-herbal extract-high-fat diet groups (P=0.001), resistance exercise-herbal extract-high-fat diet groups (P=0.021), aerobic exercise-HFD diet groups (P=0.038), resistance exercise-HFD groups (P=0.001), and herbal supplement-HFD groups (P=0.001) than in the control group (P=0.001). PARKIN gene expression was significantly higher in aerobic exercise-herbal extract-high-fat diet groups (P=0.001), resistance exercise-herbal extract-HFD groups (P=0.035), aerobic exercise-HFD (P=0.026), and herbal supplement groups (P=0.006) than in the control-HFD group. Conclusion : The present study shows that high-fat diets can cause impaired pancreatic function by reducing the expression of mitophagy genes. Since regular physical activity, especially aerobic exercise, and herbal supplementation prevented the reduction in the expression of PINK1 and PARKIN genes, it is concluded that these two interventions have a protective effect on pancreatic tissue under conditions of a high-fat diet. Therefore, it is recommended that aerobic exercise and the herbal supplements used in the present study can be considered as a beneficial strategy to reduce the complications caused by a high-fat diet for pancreatic tissue.