Evaluation of cardiac remodeling induced by physical training aerobic running and swimming in rats

• Grant number: 13/20011-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: January 01, 2014
• End date: July 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Physiology - Physiology of Organs and Systems
• Principal Investigator: Andrey Jorge Serra
• Grantee: Amanda Yoshizaki dos Santos
• Host Institution: Universidade Nove de Julho (UNINOVE). Campus Memorial. São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

During exercise, the cardiac function is shown to be increased to maintain blood supplement to active muscle. An interesting issue is cardiac remodeling caused by exercise training, in which induces changes in the morphology and function of the heart. This cardiac adaptation to exercise is the subject of intensive research, and an intriguing issue is the possibility of adaptive response to be dependent on the type of exercise training. Lines of evidence show that anaerobic exercise modalities (e.g. strength training) induces increased wall thickness of the left ventricular and reduced cavity radius. However, aerobic exercises are stimulated to increase the radius of the left ventricular cavity with maintaining or changing discrete parietal morphology. Overall, this information led to assume that the cardiac remodeling induced by exercise is a clear issue, in which myocardial adaptation is unique to specific metabolic load. However, there are certain issues that show be better understood particularly those indicating that different types of aerobic exercise training can also trigger cardiac remodeling distinct. Thus, the aim of this study is to analyze the cardiac remodeling induced by swimming and running in rats trained on a similar intensity and volume of training. In this perspective, the following variables will be investigated: (1) resting heart rate with the animal awake, (2) morphology and left ventricular function, (3) myocardial contractility in vitro, (4) aerobic endurance treadmill and pool; (5) myocardial mass, nuclear volume and transverse diameter of cardiomyocytes.