Effect of swimming exercise and garlic extract consumption on some of growth factors involved in angiogenesis and neurogenesis in the brain tissue of old rats

Background and Objective: Angiogenesis and Neurogenesis declines with aging whereas regular exercise and antioxidant supplements are associated with various physiological changes in the brain. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the effect of swimming exercise and garlic extract on the some of growth factors involved in angiogenesis and neurogenesis in the brain tissue of old rats.

Materials and Methods: In this research study, 35 sedentary aged male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 5 groups (7 rats per group) of control, saline, garlic, aerobic exercise, and garlic+exercise. The animals were exercised by swimming training at 3 min to 60 min per day, five days a week for 8 weeks. The extract of garlic (2.5 g/kg) was administered by gastric gavage to old rats. The rats were killed 72 h after the last treatments and the brain transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) level were evaluated by ELISA method. One-way analysis of variance was used for data analysis.

Results: The results showed that 8-week swimming training, garlic consumption and the combined intervention decreased brain TGF-β1 and increased VEGF level in aged rats (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: It seems that regular swimming training, garlic consumption and the combined intervention protects against age-related decline of angiogenesis and neurogenesis in the brain by up-regulation of VEGF and decreasing TGF- β1 levels in old rats.