Journal of Exercise & Organ Cross Talk

Abstract It is becoming more important to understand the physiological processes that contribute to the emergence of risk factors associated with menopause, and to discover strategies for preventing and reversing them. The current research aimed to determine the impact of functional and concurrent training on miR-126/miR-1 gene expression, and cardiovascular function in middle-aged postmenopausal women. In this study, 24 women between the ages of 50 and 60 years old with a sedentary life style participated. The subjects were randomly divided into the control group, concurrent training group, and functional training group. The Control received no intervention, and the experimental groups performed selected training protocols for 12 weeks. Doppler ultrasound graphs were utilized after the interventions to evaluate the cardiovascular function. Also, 48 hours after experiment, the blood collection was taken to assess miR-126/miR-1 gene expression. To compare the variables, one-way ANOVA test followed by Tukey's post hoc test was used. The significance level was set at p < 0.05. The results showed that the training programs led to significant enhancements in FLOW-mediated dilation, and PSV (peak systolic velocity). Moreover, there was a significant decrease in the vascular stiffness in the participants after undergoing the training. Additionally, miR-1 and miR-126 gene expression were found to be increased in response to both training interventions. These findings suggest that concurrent and functional training may be an effective approach for reducing the risk of age-related diseases in menopausal women through promoting cardiovascular functions and miR-126/miR-1 gene expression elevation.

Abstract This study aimed to investigate the combined effect of prolonged whey protein supplementation and resistance training on the expression of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) gene, the weight of the Gastrocnemius muscle and One-repetition maximum in young male Wistar rats. In this study, twenty-one young male Wistar rats, aged eight weeks and weighing between 200 to 250 grams, were randomly assigned to four groups: training (T), supplementary training (ST), Sham (Sh), and control (C). The resistance training program was conducted for six weeks, five days a week, with the training intensity increasing from 50 to 100% of the rats' body weight. The rats receiving the whey supplement via the gavage method based on their body weight, using whey production by ON company. Forty-eight hours after the final training session, the quadriceps muscles of the rats were extracted and the expression level of the IGF-1 gene was evaluated using the Real-Time PCR method. Statistical analysis was conducted using one-way variance test and Scheffe's test. The results showed that the training -supplement group exhibited a significant increase in IGF-1 expression compared to the Sham group (P˂0.05). Moreover, the weight of the Gastrocnemius muscle of rats and also One-repetition maximum in the training-supplement group significantly increased compared to the training, sham, and control groups (P˂0.05). The findings suggest that the concomitant use of resistance training and whey protein supplementation has a synergistic effect on IGF-1 gene expression in skeletal muscle, which may contribute to enhanced muscle hypertrophy and One-repetition maximum.