Voluntary exercise improves spermatogenesis and testicular apoptosis in type 2 diabetic rats through alteration in oxidative stress and mir-34a/SIRT1/p53 pathway.

OBJECTIVES

This research was designed to demonstrate the impact of voluntary exercise on sperm parameters including sperm count, morphology, motility, viability, testicular apoptosis, oxidative stress, and the mir-34a/SIRT1/p53 pathway in type 2 diabetic rats.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

32 Wistar male rats were separated into four groups: control (C), voluntary exercise (VE), diabetic (D), and diabetic rats that performed voluntary exercise (VED). To induce diabetes, animals were injected with streptozotocin (35 mg/kg) after receiving a high-fat diet. The testicular protein levels of SIRT1 and P53, miR-34a expression, MDA, GPx, SOD, catalase, and sperm parameters were evaluated.

RESULTS

Diabetes caused increased testicular MDA content, miR-34a expression, acetylated p53 protein expression, and the percent of immotile sperm (<0.01 to <0.001) as well as reduced testicular GPx, SOD and catalase activities, SIRT1 protein expression, and sperm parameters (<0.05 to <0.001). Voluntary exercise reduced testicular MDA content, miR-34a, and acetylated p53 protein expression compared with the D group (<0.001), however, GPx, SOD, catalase activities, and sperm parameters in voluntarily exercised rats were elevated compared with diabetic rats (<0.05 to <0.001).

CONCLUSION

It seems that voluntary exercise has significant positive impacts that can be employed to reduce the complications of type 2 diabetes in the testis of male rats.