The Effect of One Year´s Swimming Exercise on Oxidant Stress
and Antioxidant Capacity in Aged Rats
F. GÜNDÜZ1, Ü.K. ªENTÜRK1, O. KURU1, B. AKTEKIN2, M.R. AKTEKIN3
1Department of Physiology, 2Department of Neurology and
3Department of Public
Health, Akdeniz University, Medical Faculty, Antalya, Turkey
Received September 3, 2002
Accepted April 3, 2003
Summary
The effect of exercise on oxidant stress and on alterations in antioxidant
defense in elderly has been investigated extensively. However, the impact of
regularly performed long-term physical activity starting from adulthood and
prolonged up to the old age is not yet clear. We have investigated the changes
in the activities of antioxidant enzymes – superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase
(CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) – and lipid peroxidation in various
tissues of rats which had performed (old-trained) or had not performed
(old-control) regular swimming exercise for one year. These animals were
compared with young-sedentary rats. Increased lipid peroxidation was observed
with ageing in all tissues (heart, liver, kidney, striated muscle) and swimming
had no additional effect on this elevation of lipid peroxidation. Heart and
striated muscle SOD activites, and striated muscle CAT activity increased as a
consequence of ageing, whereas kidney and liver CAT activities, as well as GPx
activities in kidney, liver, lung and heart were significantly decreased
compared to young controls. Lung and heart SOD, liver CAT activities as well as
GPx activities in liver, lung and heart were increased significantly in rats
which performed exercise during ageing, compared to the old-control group. These
findings suggest that lifelong exercise can improve the antioxidant defense in
many tissues without constituting any additional oxidant stress.
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