The Effect of a Combination of Swim Training and Magnesium Supplementation on Thermal Hyperalgesia in Diabetic Rats

Objective: A question raised here as to whether exercise training combined with Mg supplementation could improve the symptoms of neuropathic pain such as the thermal hyperalgesia more effectively than either of the two alone. This study aimed to investigate the combined effect of swim training and Mg supplementation on thermal hyperalgesia in streptozotocin (STZ) induced diabetic rats. Materials and Methods: Male wistar rats were randomly assigned to 5 groups: Control (C), Diabetic Control (CD), Training Diabetic (TD), Magnesium (Mg) Supplementing Diabetic (MgD), and Mg Supplementing and Training (MgTD). The training rats were subjected to forced-swimming for 8 weeks. Mg supplementing groups orally received magnesium sulfate (10 g/l) added into drinking water, for 8 weeks. Tail flick latency (TFL) test was used to evaluate the thermal pain threshold. Data were analyzed via multiple analyses of variance (MANOVA) Results: Diabetes displayed the thermal hyperalgesia in most of diabetic groups at the late stage diabetes (P<0.05). Long term implementation of either swim training or Mg supplementation alone improved the severity of hyperalgesia (P<0.05). The combination of swim training and Mg administration prevented the occurrence of the hyperalgesia over the course of experiment (P<0.05). Conclusion: These results suggested that the swim training go along with Mg administration could be a safe effective strategy for the prevention of painful diabetic neuropathy. &nbsp;