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Effects of Short-Term Treadmill Exercise Training or Growth Hormone Supplementation on Diastolic Function and Exercise Tolerance in Old Rats

Departments of ¹ Anesthesiology and ² Cardiology, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
³ Department of Geriatric Medicine, University of Oklahoma Health Science Center, Oklahoma City.

Address correspondence to Leanne Groban, MD, Department of Anesthesiology, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Medical Center Blvd., Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1009. E-mail: lgroban{at}wfubmc.edu

Whether the lusitropic potential of short-term exercise in aged rats is linked to an augmentation in the growth hormone/insulin-like growth factor-1 (GH/IGF-1) axis and an alteration in the cardiac renin angiotensin system (RAS) is unknown. Old (28-month-old) male, Fischer 344xBrown Norway rats were randomized to 4 weeks of GH supplementation (300 µg subcutaneous, twice daily) or 4 weeks of treadmill running, or were used as sedentary controls. Six-month-old rats, sedentary or exercised, were used as young controls. Training improved exercise capacity in old animals. Exercise and GH attenuated age-related declines in myocardial relaxation despite an exercise-induced suppression of IGF-1. The regulatory protein, sarcoplasmic Ca²⁺ adenosine triphosphatase (SERCA2), increased with exercise but not GH. Among aged rats, the cardiac RAS was not altered by training or GH. Thus, the signaling pathway underlying the lusitropic benefit of short-term habitual exercise in the aged rat may be distinct from GH-mediated benefits and independent of the cardiac RAS.

Key Words: Aging • Diastolic function • Growth hormone • Insulin-like growth factor-1 • Treadmill training