The More Potent Favorable Effects of Swimming Exercise Versus Ketogenic Diet in Combatting Obesity-Induced Brain Damage in Rats

Benyamen, Hassnaa; Abd El-Emam, Mahran Mohamed; Shehata, Yousef M.; Khamis, Tarek; Mansour, Mohamed Fouad

doi:10.21608/ejvs.2025.368783.2704

The More Potent Favorable Effects of Swimming Exercise Versus Ketogenic Diet in Combatting Obesity-Induced Brain Damage in Rats

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Zagazig University, Zagazig 44511, Egypt

² Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig 44519, Egypt

10.21608/ejvs.2025.368783.2704

Abstract

Obesity is abnormal massive accumulation of fat in the body, which is cosidered one of the most common health problem worldwide. It is causing a state of oxidative stress and inflammation, which affects almost all body tissues including the brain. Obesity also affects cognitive development, executive function abilities, brain volume, and can increase the risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Therefore, we assessed the effect of swimming exercise versus the ketogenic diet on the brain damage of obese rats. Thirty two rats were divided into 4 groups (8 rats each) include: Control group: Rats received standared rat diet, Obesity group: Rats received high fat diet, ketogenic diet group (KD): Obese rats received ketogenic diet/daily for 2 months and swimming exercise: Obese rats subjected to swimming (1 h/day/2 months). The results indicated that KD and swimming exercise improved waist circumference, total cholesterol, triacylglycerol, and HDL in comparison with obese group. Regarding oxidative status in the brain, Both KD and swimming exercise significantly reduced the level of MDA, while increased the level of total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and SOD. Both treatments downregulated the mRNA expression levels of TLR4/NF-κB signaling, mir-138-5p and mir-489-3p in the brain tissue of obese rats. However, KD and swimming exercise upregulated the mRNA expression levels of antioxidant-related genes (Nrf-2 and SIRT1), fission-related genes (Mfn1 and Mfn2), fussion-related gene (DRP-1), mitophagy-related genes (PINK1 and Parkin), mitochondrial respiratory chain-related genes (NDUFS1, SDHC, COQ8A, COX6A2 and ATP5F1A). Moreover, both tretments showed improvement in the brain tissue histopathology of obese rats. In conclusion, KD and swimming exercise restore the normal brain function in obese rats. Interestingly, the data of this study proved that swimming exercise showed higher potent effect than KD against brain damage in obese rats.

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