Effect of an Eight-week high-intensity Interval Training Program on Serum Cardiac Troponin I Level of Streptozotocin-induced Diabetic Rats

Background: One of the complications of diabetes, as a chronic metabolic disorder, is cardiovascular diseases.  Objective This study aims to investigate the effect of an eight-week High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) program on serum Cardiac troponin I (CtnI) level in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.  Methods: In this experimental clinical trial, 30 rats were randomly assigned into three groups of healthy Control (C), Diabetic (D), and diabetic+training (D+T). The third group performed the training which included a treadmill running at an intensity of 85%-90% of maximum speed in 6-12 sessions of 2 min for 8 weeks, 5 days per week. Blood glucose level and high-sensitive CtnI levels were measured 48 hours after the last training session and 12 hours of fasting. One-way ANOVA and Tukey’s test were used to analyze the collected data, considering a significance level of P<0.05. Findings: The induction of diabetes caused a significant increase in blood glucose (P=0.01) and high-sensitive CtnI (P=0.01) levels in the D group. Also, a significant difference was observed in the blood glucose level of D+T group compared to the D group (P=0.001). The CtnI level also slightly reduced (11%) in the D+T group compared to the D group, but it was not statistically significant (P=0.591). Conclusion: he HIIT program can reduce the fasting blood glucose and increase the serum level of high-sensitive CtnI to some extent in diabetic rats; therefore, it can be an appropriate strategy for diabetics. However, there is a need for more studies in this area.