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Swimming Program on Mildly Diabetic Rats in Pregnancy

Reproductive Sciences volume 28, pages 2223–2235 (2021)Cite this article

A Correction to this article was published on 19 February 2021

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Abstract

The present study aims to confirm if the moderate-intensity swimming has successful glycemic control and non-toxic oxidative stress levels and to verify the influence on pancreatic adaptations, embryo implantation, and placental efficiency. Female Wistar rats were randomly distributed to obtain mildly diabetic by streptozotocin induction at birth and the non-diabetic females given vehicle. At adulthood, pregnant rats were put at random into sedentary non-diabetic rats (ND); exercise non-diabetic rats (NDEx); sedentary diabetic rats (D); and exercise diabetic rats (DEx). The rats of the groups submitted to moderate intensity carried loads equivalent to 4% of body weight. On day 17 of gestational day, all rats were submitted to oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). Next day (GD18), the rats were anesthetized and killed to count implantation sites and to collect placentas, blood, and muscle samples for biochemical biomarkers and pancreas for immunohistochemical analysis. The moderate exercise used was not sufficient to stimulate the aerobic pathway but presented positive results on glucose metabolism, lower embryo postimplantation loss, and pancreatic morphology compared with the sedentary diabetic group. However, the DEx group showed muscular damage, decreased antioxidant defense, and lipid peroxidation. Thus, the moderate-intensity exercise reduces glycemic levels during OGTT and causes no damage to non-diabetic rats related to other analyzed parameters in this study. The exercised diabetic rats present better glycemic metabolism in OGTT, islet pancreatic morphology, and embryofetal development. However, it is necessary an adjustment in this exercise intensity to improve the effectiveness of aerobic training for reduction of maternal muscular and lipid membrane damages.

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Data Availability

Data supporting findings are presented within the manuscript.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to the staff of the Laboratory for Experimental Research in Gynecology and Obstetrics, especially to Talisia Moreto, Carlos Roberto Lima, Vitor Souza, and Danilo Chaguri for the excellent technical assistance. They are also grateful to Dr. Carlos Eduardo Meirelles for providing us the structure of the swimming tanks and for making of the anesthesia machine, and to the Dr. José Eduardo Corrente for assistance with statistical analysis.

Funding

This study was supported by grants from FAPESP/Brazil in most of the study at Nathália C. D. Macedo, as part of her thesis (Fellowship-Process Number 2013/23478-3).

Author information

Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Experimental Research on Gynecology and Obstetrics, Postgraduate Program on Tocogynecology, Botucatu Medical School, SÃO Paulo State University (UNESP), Botucatu, São Paulo State, Brazil

    Nathália C. D. Macedo, Isabela L. Iessi, Franciane Q. Gallego, Yuri K. Sinzato & Débora C. Damasceno

  2. Southwest Paulista University Center (Unifsp), Itapetininga, São Paulo State, Brazil

    Aline O. Netto

  3. Laboratory of System Physiology and Reproductive Toxicology, Institute of Biological and Health Sciences, Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT), Barra do Garças, Mato Grosso State, Brazil

    Gustavo T. Volpato

  4. Departamento de Biología de la Reproducción, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, Cuidad de México, México

    Elena Zambrano

Authors
  1. Nathália C. D. Macedo
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  2. Isabela L. Iessi
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  6. Gustavo T. Volpato
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  8. Débora C. Damasceno
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Contributions

NCDM, GTV, and DCD conceived and designed the experiments. NCDM, FQG, and AON collected the experimental data. NCDM, ILI, FQG, and DCD analyzed and interpreted data. ILI, FQG, YKS, GTV, EZ, and DCD drafted the article and revised it critically for important intellectual content. All authors have read and approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Débora C. Damasceno.

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Macedo, N.C.D., Iessi, I.L., Gallego, F.Q. et al. Swimming Program on Mildly Diabetic Rats in Pregnancy. Reprod. Sci. 28, 2223–2235 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43032-021-00462-0

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Keywords

  • Hyperglycemia
  • Oxidative stress
  • Pancreatic islets
  • Moderate exercise
  • Pregnancy
  • Rats