The effects of swimming training on N-cadherin, β-catenin and Emerin in cardiac left ventricle in male Wistar rat

Background: Physical activity and exercise training plays a protective role against cardiovascular disease via reducing risk factors. Swimming as one of the best aerobic activity and exercise modality recommended for preventing and treatment of cardiovascular disease. On the other hand, exercise training could effects cardiac muscle protein structure. Therefore, the propose of this study was to investigate the effects of eight-week swimming training on N-cadherin, beta catenin and Emerin gene expression in left ventricle of cardiac muscle in male Wistar rat.

Methods: In this study, twenty four male Wistar rat (8-week old) with an average (weight 237±33 in gr) randomly divided to three groups: Control (n=8), 8- week control (n=8) and swimming training (n=8). Swimming group participated in a swimming training for 8- week (5 seasons per week of 30 minutes floating on the water with moderate intensity) and the control group continued their usual lives. Twenty four hours after the last training session, the heart tissue of rats were extracted and β-catenin, N-cadherin and Emerin gene expression evaluated by Real Time-PCR. Data were statistically analyzed by one-way ANOVA and post-hoc Tukey methods (P<0.05).

Results: The results of the study showed the expression of genes N-cadherin and beta catenin significantly higher in the swimming group than in the control group. However, Emerin gene expression in swimming group was significantly lower than in the control group.

Conclusion: According to these findings, it seems that eight-weeks of swimming training an effective way of improving the structure and function of the heart muscle cells by increasing beta catenin and N-cadherin.