Background and Aim: Damage to kidney tissue following cadmium (Cd) toxicity is a major problem in human societies. Although the role of exercise and antioxidants in kidney tissue has been investigated, the simultaneous effect of eight weeks of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and gallic acid (GA) consumption on SIRT1 and miR-9-5P in kidney tissue of rats exposed to cadmium was the aim of this study.
Materials and Methods: Forty- two male Sprague-Dawley rats, 8-9 months old and weighing 250-270 g were randomly divided into healthy control (HC), Cd, Sham, Cd+GA, Cd+HIIT, and Cd+HIIT+GA groups. The Cd groups received 5 mg/kg/day of Cd in drinking water daily. The GA groups received 20 mg/kg of GA dissolved in food and water flavoring daily. The exercise groups also performed HIIT at an intensity of 80-110% of Vo2max for eight weeks and three sessions per week. One-way ANOVA with Tukey's post- hoc test was used to analyze the data.
Results: The levels of miR-9-5p and SIRT1 in the Cd+GA (P=0.001), Cd+HIIT (P=0.001) and Cd+HIIT+GA (P=0.001) groups were significantly higher than Cd group also in the Cd+HIIT+GA group were significantly higher than Cd+GA (P=0.001) and Cd+HIIT (P=0.001) groups. The levels of SIRT1 in the Cd+HIIT+GA group were significantly lower than Cd+HIIT group (P=0.02).
Conclusion: It seems that both HIIT and GA consumption can play a role in modulating genes related to mitochondrial biogenesis and reducing apoptosis. However, according to the results of this study, it seems that the interaction of HIIT and GA consumption in modulating SIRT1 and miR-9-5p gene expression is much more effective than the effect of each alone.