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The effects of bee venom on liver and skeletal muscle in exhaustive swimming rats

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Abstract

Oxidative damage and proinflammatory cytokines are involved in exhaustive exercise-induced fatigue. This study aimed to investigate the effects of bee venom, a natural toxin, on fatigue and tissue damage in rats that underwent forced swimming exercise. Rats were divided into four groups: control, swimming exercise (SE), bee venom (BV) and swimming exercise + bee venom (SE + BV). SE and SE + BV groups were subjected to forced swimming (load of 7% body weight) for 5 days. BV and SE + BV groups were injected with 1 mg/kg BV subcutaneously. Swimming time, blood lactate and TNF-α levels, MDA and GSH levels in liver and gastrocnemius muscle were evaluated. Swimming time was shorter in SE + BV group than SE group. There was no difference in lactate levels between SE and SE + BV groups. MDA and GSH levels were increased in SE, BV and SE + BV groups. TNF-α levels were increased in BV group compared to control and SE groups. Our study demonstrated that BV administration before exhaustive exercise in rats did not provide anti-fatigue effect. Additionally, BV did not show anti-inflammatory activity and had different effects on antioxidant capacity at tissue level. Further research might explore the effects of different doses and durations of BV on exhaustive exercise.

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Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

AS and MK designed the study. AS, BD and BA performed the in vivo study. MK, BD and BA performed the biochemical analysis. IA and OA analyzed the data. MK, IA and OA wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Muge Kiray.

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The authors have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All experiments were performed in accordance with the guidelines provided by the Experimental Animal Laboratory and approved by the Ethics Committee of the Dokuz Eylul University Medical Faculty, Turkey (approval number: 43/2020). All experimental procedures were appropriate to the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals of National Institutes of Health (USA).

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Senturk, A., Dalkiran, B., Acikgoz, B. et al. The effects of bee venom on liver and skeletal muscle in exhaustive swimming rats. BIOLOGIA FUTURA 73, 237–244 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42977-022-00115-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42977-022-00115-6

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