ABSTRACT
Objective: Interleukin 6 [IL6] is a pro-inflammatory cytokine that plays an important role in obesity and related metabolic disorders. Also, exercise training has been offered in obesity prevention and immune system improvement. Hence, this study intends to survey the effects of high fat diet and high intensity aerobic training on plasma levels of IL6 in rats
Methods: We divided 28 male Wistar rats into two control groups with normal [CN] or high fat [CH] diet and two training groups with normal [EN] or high fat [EH] diet. The training groups ran for 60 minutes on a treadmill at 35 m/min for 5 days/week [75% VO2 max]. After 8 weeks, we collected blood samples for plasma IL6 assessment. Two-way ANOVA was used for statistical analysis [P
Results: The high fat diet significantly increased the rats' weights and plasma IL6 levels. Performance of 8 weeks of high intensity aerobic training increased IL6 levels in the normal diet group and decreased IL6 levels in the high fat diet group. This change was not significant in the normal diet group
Conclusion: High fat diets probably induced inflammation due to elevated IL6 levels. High intensity aerobic training for 8 weeks significantly decreased IL6 levels