The effect of 8 weeks of endurance training on Bax and Bcl2 in the cardiac tissue of rats with morphine withdrawal syndrome

Introduction: Addiction to morphine induces apoptosis in different cell types. Apoptosis is an organized and programmed process that plays a vital role in monitoring a variety of non-pathological cellular events. For this purpose, this study investigated the effect of 8 weeks of endurance training on bax and bcl2 in the cardiac tissue of rats suffering from morphine withdrawal syndrome. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, 32 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 4 groups including control, withdrawal syndrome, withdrawal syndrome with endurance training and endurance training. Two groups of morphine withdrawal syndrome were addicted to 0.4 mg/mL morphine sulfate for 21 days. To ensure morphine dependence, a number of animals were injected with naloxone (2mg/kg, ip). Training groups participated in an increasing treadmill running program for 8 weeks (3 sessions per week). 24 hours after the last training session, heart tissue was sampled. The levels of Bax and Bcl-2 proteins in the left ventricular tissues of rats were measured by ELISA method. Data analysis was performed with one-way analysis of variance and Tukey's post hoc test with a significance level of p<0.05. Result: We found that morphine leads to an increase in Bax protein (proapoptotic) (P=0.003) and a decrease in Bcl-2 protein (antiapoptotic) (P=0.001) in heart tissue. On the other hand, performing 8 weeks of endurance training leads to a significant change in the level of Bax (P=0.001) and Bcl-2 (P=0.001) proteins in the heart tissue following morphine withdrawal syndrome. Conclusion: This study shows that endurance training can be considered as a non-pharmacological way to reduce the complications of cardiac cell apoptosis in people with morphine withdrawal syndrome.