The high-intensity interval training mitigates the cardiac remodeling in spontaneously hypertensive rats

Aim: To evaluate the influence of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on cardiac structural and functional characteristics and myocardial mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling in hypertensive rats. Methods: Male rats (12 months old) were divided into three groups: Wistar Kyoto rats (WKY, n = 8); sedentary spontaneously hypertensive rats (SED-SHR, n = 10), and trained spontaneously hypertensive rats (HIIT-SHR, n = 10). Systolic blood pressure (SBP), functional capacity, echocardiography, isolated papillary muscle, and gene expression of MAPK gene-encoding proteins associated with Elk1, cJun, ATF2, MEF2 were analyzed. Key findings: HIIT decreased SBP and increased functional capacity, left ventricular diastolic diameter, posterior wall thickness-left ventricle, relative wall thickness-left ventricle, and resting tension of the papillary muscle. In hypertensive rats, we observed a decrease in the gene-encoding ATF2 protein; this decrease was reversed by HIIT. Significance: The influence of HIIT in the SHR model in the compensated hypertension phase generated an in-crease in cardiac hypertrophy, attenuated myocardial diastolic dysfunction, lowered blood pressure, improved functional capacity, and reversed the alteration in gene-encoding ATF2 protein.

Automated summary

This study evaluated the effects of high-intensity interval training on cardiac structural and functional characteristics in hypertensive rats. The results showed that high-intensity interval training decreased blood pressure, improved cardiac function, and reversed alterations in gene encoding.