Abstract
Background: Diabetes is considered a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Aerobic exercise and the consumption of herbal supplements are the main non-pharmaceutical interventions used to control and treat type 2 diabetes. Objectives: The goal of this research was to systematically examine the effects of eight weeks of aerobic exercise along with berberine chloride supplementation on the expression of SIRT1 and PGC-1α genes in the cardiac muscle in diabetic male Wistar rats. Methods: In this experimental research, 56 adult male Wistar rats were randomly classified into healthy (C), diabetic (D), diabetic + 15 mg/kg berberine chloride (D-B1), diabetic + 30 mg/kg berberine chloride (D-B2), diabetic + aerobic exercise (DT), diabetic + aerobic exercise + 15 mg/kg berberine chloride (DT-B1) and diabetic + aerobic exercise + 30 mg/kg berberine chloride (DT-B2) groups. The training protocol consisted of eight weeks of aerobic exercise (three training sessions per week). The first week of exercise was started at a speed of 10 meters per minute for 10 minutes, and the intensity was scaled up to 18 m/s for 40 minutes in the eighth week. Berberine chloride supplement (either 15 or 30 mg/kg) was given daily by gavage for 8 weeks. One-way analysis of variance followed by Tukey’s post-hoc test was applied to statistically analyze expressional changes in the target genes. Results: There was no considerable change in the gene expression of SIRT1 (P = 0.135) and PGC-1α (P = 0.071) in the research groups. Conclusions: The results of this research showed that aerobic exercise and berberine chloride supplementation (at doses of 15 and 30 mg/kg) did not significantly affect mitochondrial biogenesis indicators in the cardiac muscle of diabetic rats. Further studies are recommended to investigate the effects of higher doses of berberine chloride in combination with different training protocols.