Introduction: Type 2 diabetes is a chronic disease with warning increasing rate in the world. Although type 2 diabetes is a multifactorial disease, it has been recently found that the incidence of type 2 diabetes is associated with MTNR1B gene and the growth of its expression increases the risk of type 2 diabetes. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of 12-week aerobic exercise on MTNR1B gene expression, glucose and fasting insulin in male Wistar rats with type 2 diabetes.
Methods: This fundamental study with experimental approach. included 30 male Wistar rats with weight of 220±20 gram. Sampls were kept under standard conditions: temperature of 22 ± 3° centigrade, 45% humidity and consecutive 12-hour periods of light and darkness. The rats were divided into three groups. Infusion of diabetes was conducted by Nicotinamide and streptozotocin solution. Training program was held on 5 days a week for 12 weeks with a gradual increasing of speed (18 to 26 meters per minute) and time (10 to 55 minutes) by running on a treadmill. Glucose level, insulin level and gene expression were measured by enzyme glucose oxidase colorimetric method, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and Real-time polymerase chain reaction. All statistical analyses were performed by software SPSS, version16.
Results: Training programme led to a significant reduction in fasting glucose levels in aerobic diabetic group compared to the control diabetic group (P<0.05). Serum insulin levels in the diabetic aerobic group was more than diabetic control group, but this difference was not statistically significant (P?0.05). On the other hand, the implementation of aerobic exercise MTNR1B in pancreas gene expression decreased 39 percent in the diabetic control group in comparison with diabetic control group (P<0.05).
Conclusion: The results showed that 12-week aerobic exercise led to a significant reduction in blood glucose and in gene expression MTNR1B in pancreatic tissue compared to the diabetic control group.