Abstract
Background: Telomerase activity was reduced by aging, leading to decrease in telomere length and cell death. Evidence suggests that physical activity as well as green tea has a positive effect on the prevention of cellular aging. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of 12 weeks aerobic training combined with green tea extract on cardiac telomerase enzyme in aged male rats.
Materials and Methods: In this study, 32 aged male rats were randomly divided into 4 groups: control, exercise, green tea and exercise + green tea. Exercise groups performed moderate intensity aerobic exercise for 12 weeks and 5 days per week; meantime, the supplementary groups consumed green tea extract. Sandwich ELISA method was used to measure the amount of telomerase.
Results: The results show that telomerase enzyme in exercise group was significantly higher than control group (p= 0.001), green tea group was significantly higher than control group (p= 0.016) and in exercise + green tea group significantly higher than control group (p= 0.001) was observed.
Conclusion: According to the results of this study, 12 weeks of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise with green tea extract can increased the amount of telomerase enzyme and Prevent telomere length shortening and cellular aging