Resistance training may concomitantly benefit body composition, blood pressure and muscle MMP-2 activity on the left ventricle of high-fat fed diet rats.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of resistance training (RT) on body composition, systolic and diastolic blood pressures (BP), and activity of muscle MMP-2 in the left ventricle of high-fat fed rats.

MATERIALS/METHODS: We have evaluated 32 male Wistar rats divided into four experimental groups (n=8/each) according to diet and exercise status: sedentary (SED; standard diet), sedentary obese (SED-OB; diet: 30% of fat), RT (RT; standard diet) and RT obese (RT-OB; diet: 30% of fat). After weaning (day 21), animals were subjected to the experimental diet according to their groups during 24 weeks. A 12-week strength-training period was used, during which the rats climbed a 1.1-m vertical ladder with weights attached to their tails. Sessions were performed three times/week (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays), with 4-9 climbs/session and 8-12 dynamic movements/climb.

RESULTS

RT induced higher muscle MMP-2 activity in the left ventricle in RT and RT-OB groups. Moreover, this study demonstrated that RT promoted lower body and fat masses, fat percentage, systolic and diastolic BPs and higher fat free mass in both trained groups.

CONCLUSION

RT increased muscle MMP-2 activity in the left ventricle, induced positive changes on body composition and lowered BPs in high-fat diet fed rats, suggesting that it may be a useful tool to prevent alterations induced by high-fat diet consumption.