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Exercise benefits cardiovascular health in hyperlipidemia rats correlating with changes of the cardiac vagus nerve

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Abstract

The role of exercise training on hemodynamic parameters, blood lipid profiles, inflammatory cytokines, cholinesterase-positive nerves and muscarinic cholinergic (M2) receptors expression in the heart was investigated in Sprague–Dawley male rats with hyperlipidemia (HL). The rats were subjected to a high-fat diet and exercise training for 8 weeks, and then the hemodynamic parameters, the profiles of blood lipid and inflammatory cytokines, and the expression of cholinesterase-positive nerves and M2 receptors were measured. HL rats displayed cardiac dysfunction, dysregulation of inflammatory cytokines, and decreased cholinesterase-positive nerves and M2 receptors expression. The combination of hyperlipidemia with exercise training (AT) restored the profiles of blood lipids and the levels of inflammatory cytokines. In addition, AT and HL + AT improved cardiac function with increasing cholinesterase-positive nerves and M2 receptors expression. Overall, these data show that the increased expression of cholinesterase-positive nerves and M2 receptors in the heart is partially responsible for the benefits of exercise training on cardiac function in hyperlipidemia rats.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Key Program, No. 30930105; General Program, No. 30873058, 30770785), the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, No. 2007CB512005) and CMB Distinguished Professorships Award (No. F510000/G16916404).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, People’s Republic of China

    You-Hua Wang, Hao Hu, Sheng-Peng Wang, Xiao-Jiang Yu, Lei Sun, Dong-Ling Li, Bing Jia, Bing-Hang Liu & Wei-Jin Zang

  2. Department of Physical Education, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an, People’s Republic of China

    You-Hua Wang, Zhen-Jun Tian, Quan-Jiang Zhang, Qiu-Xia Li & You-You Li

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  1. You-Hua Wang
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  2. Hao Hu
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  13. Wei-Jin Zang
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Correspondence to Wei-Jin Zang.

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Communicated by Jacques Poortmans.

The contribution of Y.-H. Wang and H. Hu who are the first co-authors was equivalent.

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Wang, YH., Hu, H., Wang, SP. et al. Exercise benefits cardiovascular health in hyperlipidemia rats correlating with changes of the cardiac vagus nerve. Eur J Appl Physiol 108, 459–468 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-009-1232-1

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