Vesnu Publications (Farzanegan Radandish) Journal of Exercise & Organ Cross Talk 2783-2074 4 4 2024 12 01 Impact of borage extract and 8-week aerobic training on liver autophagy genes Beclin-1 and Parkin in male Wistar rats with NAFLD 255 262 216307 10.22122/jeoct.2025.501185.1140 EN Atena Bakhshizadeh Ph.D. student of physical Education Sport sciences, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. 0009-0007-5417-1277 Hossein Abed Natanzi Department of physical Education Sport sciences, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. 0000-0001-6638-1131 Mandana Gholami Department of physical Education Sport sciences, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. 0000-0001-8960-4123 Farshad Ghazalian Department of physical Education Sport sciences, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. 0000-0002-5805-0559 Journal Article 2024 10 21 NAFLD is one of the chronic liver diseases closely related to metabolic disorders. Borage and physical activity improves oxidative indices. Also, Beclin-1 is a key gene in the autophagy process, and Parkin acts as a protective mechanism against liver damage. So, this study aims to investigate the effect of aerobic training and borage extract on the expression of Beclin-1 and Parkin genes in the liver cells in NAFLD. In this experimental study,40male Wistar rats weighing were divided into 4groups. (control, supplement, training), and training+supplement. The data were analyzed using SPSS 25 software. Training and borage extract had no significant effect on Beclin-1 expression (P=0.267), with fold changes of 1.05±0.07 for training, 1.07±0.06 for borage extract, and 1.12±0.08 for training+borage extract, compared to the control. However, Parkin expression increased significantly (P=0.006), with fold changes of 1.15±0.08 for Training, 1.18±0.09 for borage extract, and 1.20±0.10 for training+borage extract. Post hoc confirmed a significant increase in Parkin expression in the training+borage extract group compared to the control (P=0.035). This study showed that it is possible that the consumption of borage extract and aerobic training together and alone have an increasing the expression of Parkin. So, both borage extract and aerobic training have individual benefits for improving liver health by targeting Beclin-1 and PARKIN pathways, and their combination could provide a more robust approach to managing NAFLD by promoting effective autophagy, mitophagy, and mitochondrial function. This dual intervention could reduce liver damage, inflammation, and fibrosis, ultimately improving metabolic outcomes in individuals suffering from NAFLD. https://www.jeoct.com/article_216307_230ba63a88e9345de22f79f35037b605.pdf