The effect of running on positive and negative slopes on TNF-α and INF- γ gene expression in the muscle tissue of rats with Alzheimer’s disease

Introduction: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a disease associated with disorders of the nervous system. Inflammation in the central nervous system can play a major role in the formation of AD. This study aimed to investigate the effect of AD induction as well as running on positive and negative slopes on TNF-α and INF-γ gene expression in the muscle tissue of rats with AD. Materials and methods: In this experimental study 15 rats were injected with 8 mg/kg Trimethyltin chloride (TMT) intra- peritoneally. After being assured of AD rats were divided in three groups of 5 rats, including: 1) control, 2) running in positive slope, and 3) running in negative slope. To investigate the effects of AD induction on the TNF-α and INF-γ gene expression levels, 5 rats were assigned to the healthy control group. During eight weeks the positive running group (at a speed of 16 m/min in positive upward slope) and negative running group (at a speed of 16 m/min in negative downhill slope) ran on the treadmill for five sessions per week and 60 minutes per session. The Shapiro- Wilk test was used for investigate the normal distribution of data and one-way ANOVA with LSD post- hoc tests were used to analyze the data (P<0.05). Results: AD induction by TMT significantly increased TNF-α (P=0.004) and INF-γ (P=0.04), nevertheless running on positive and negative slope significantly decreased TNF-α (P=0.001) also running on negative slope significantly decreased INF-γ (P=0.04). Conclusion: Running on a positive and negative slope seems to improve TNF-α gene expression in rats with AD.