HISTOLOGY AND HISTOPATHOLOGY
Cellular and Molecular Biology

 

8-weeks training program attenuates mitochondrial oxidative stress in the liver of emotionally stressed rats

M. Rosety-Rodriguez1, F.J. Ordonez2, I. Rosety3, L. Frias3, M.A. Rosety4, J.M. Rosety5 and M. Rosety2

1Medicine Department, Sport Medicine School, University of Cadiz, Spain, 2Human Anatomy and Embryology Department, Sport Medicine School, University of Cadiz, Spain, 3School of Veterinary, University of Cordoba, Spain, 4School of Sport Sciences, University of Wales, United Kingdom and 5University Hospital Puerta del Mar, Andalusian Health Service, Cadiz, Spain

Offprint requests to: Dr. F.J. Ordóñez, Human Anatomy and Embryology Department, Pza. Fragela s/n, 11003 cádiz, Spain. e-mail: franciscojavier.ordonez@uca.es


Summary. In recent years it has been shown that emotional stress induced by immobilization may change the balance between pro-oxidant and antioxidant factors inducing oxidative damage. On the other hand, contradictory views exist concerning the role of physical activity on redox metabolism. Consequently, the present work was designed to assess the influence of an 8-week moderate swimming training program in emotionally stressed rats.
Sixty 1-month-old male albino Wistar rats weighing 125-135 g were used in this experimental study. They were divided into three groups, as Control (lot A; n=20), Stressed (lot B; n=20) and Stressed & Exercised (lot C; n=20). Rats were stressed by placing the animals in a 25 x 7 cm plastic bottle 1 h/day, 5 days a week for 8 weeks.
Protein carbonyl content values in liver homogenates were significantly increased in stressed animals (0.58±0.02 vs 0.86±0.03; p=0.018) which clearly indicated that emotional stress was associated with oxidative stress. Ultrastructural alterations, predominantly mitochondrial swelling and the decrease of cristae number observed by electron microscopy represented direct evidence of membrane injury.
The most striking feature of our study was that we also found differences between stressed rats and stressed rats that performed our 8 week training program. Consequently our results highlight the potential benefit of a moderate training program to reduce oxidative damage induced by emotional stress since it attenuated protein oxidation and mitochondrial alterations. Histol Histopathol 21, 1167-1170 (2006)

Key words: Oxidative stress, Exercise, Emotional stress, Mitochondria

DOI: 10.14670/HH-21.1167