Effect of eight weeks of high-intensity interval training and moderate-intensity continuous training with quercetin supplementation on the gene expression of FOXO1 and ATG5 in the liver of diabetic obese rats

Background: The use of complementary medicine in healthcare is increasing rapidly. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to investigate the effect of eight weeks of high-intensity interval training and moderate-intensity continuous training with quercetin supplementation on the gene expression of FOXO1 and ATG5 in the liver of diabetic obese rats. Methods: In this experimental study, 42 male Wistar rats were considered research samples at eight weeks. Rats were induced with diabetes after eight weeks of a high-fat diet and familiarization with a laboratory environment and treadmill. Rats were divided into seven groups, and six rats were placed in each group (n=6): healthy control group, diabetes control group, diabetic quercetin group, high-intensity interval training with diabetes group, moderate-intensity continuous training with diabetes group, diabetic high-intensity interval training with quercetin group, and diabetic moderate-intensity continuous training with quercetin group. For one training group, eight weeks of high-intensity interval training, and for the other group, eight weeks of moderate-intensity continuous training on the treadmill were performed. Seventy-two hours after the last training session, liver tissues were isolated to check the gene expression of FOXO1 and ATG5. One-way analysis of variance test was used to check the difference between groups by SPSS version 26 software. Results: Findings showed that by inducing type 2 diabetes, gene expression of FOXO1 increased (3.14 unit) (P 0.001) and ATG5 gene expression decreased (0.71 unit) (P 0.001). After eight weeks of training investigation, gene expression of FOXO1 and ATG5 decreased (P 0.001) and increased (P 0.001), respectively, in all training groups compared to the diabetic control group. There was no significant difference between the four training groups (P 0/05). Conclusion: Both exercises with and without quercetin had a modulating effect on the gene expression of indicators related to the process of autophagy and blood glucose levels in the liver of diabetic obese rats.