RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of swimming exercise on the recovery after ischemia/reperfusion injury. METHOD: Forty male Sprague-Dawley rats were tested. Two groups of 20 rats were formed: 1- and 3-hours ischemia groups. Finally the groups were further divided into 2 groups that went through swimming (swimming groups) and those not (control groups). Baseline recordings of electromyographic and sciatic function index (SFI) were performed, then the femoral vessels of the rat were ligated for the complete ischemia. The reperfusion process was done according to the preset time. The methods to evaluate the functional status of nerve were the nerve conduction study (NCS), SFI and histologic study. RESULTS: On the fourth week of experiment, amplitude of compound muscle action potentials was large in swimming groups compared to the control groups (p<0.05). On the third week, amplitude was large in 1 hour swimming group compared to the control group. The muscle fiber was large in diameter in 1-hour-ischemic group at 4 week compared to the control, and the sciatic function index showed same results at the 3 hours group. CONCLUSION: The groups which swimming exercise done early after ischemia/reperfusion got better results compared with the nonswimming group (p<0.05). The exercise had beneficial effect on motor function recovery after ischemia/ reperfusion injury.