Effect of a Six-Week Endurance Exercise and Empagliflozin Consumption on Some Structural and Functional Indices of the Heart in Male Diabetic Rats

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of eight weeks of endurance training and Empagliflozin consumption on inflammatory markers and their relationship with heart structure and function of diabetic male Rats. Methods: 40 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into five groups: healthy control, diabetic control, diabetic + empagliflozin, diabetic + endurance training and diabetic + endurance training + empagliflozin. The groups were anesthetized and their cardiac function and TNF-α and TGF-β indices were evaluated by one-way ANOVA and Pearson correlation tests after performing the training protocol and receiving medication. Results: There were significant differences in left ventricular end systolic thickness (P = 0.011), left ventricular end systolic volume (P = 0.008), TNF-α (P = 0.014) and TGF-β (P = 0.001) was observed between the research groups. Also, there was a significant negative relationship between TGF-β with body weight, heart fiber shortening percentage and injection fraction and a significant positive relationship with glucose levels, left ventricular end systolic thickness and left ventricular end systolic volume. In addition, a significant negative correlation was observed between TGF-β and the injection fraction (P≤0.05). Conclusion: Aerobic exercise seems to improve the inflammatory status, structure and function of diabetic heart tissue beyond the dual effect of Empagliflozin.