Effect of Moderate Swimming Exercise on Hyperglycaemia, Polyphagia, Polydipsia and Weight Loss in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rats

Purpose: The purpose of the current study is to evaluate the efficacy of regular exercise as a
useful nonpharmacological strategy in attenuating the diabetes symptom such as hyperglycaemia,
polyuria, polydipsia, polyphagia, and weight loss.
Materials and Methods: Twenty male Wistar rats (200±20 gr) were divided to four groups
(n = 5 per group): sedentary normal (N), trained normal (NE), sedentary diabetes (D) and trained
diabetes (DE). Diabetes was induced by a single intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (50
mg/kg). The exercise protocol consisted of moderate intensity swimming of 30 min/day, 5 days/
week for eight weeks. Plasma glucose was evaluated at initiation and end of the experiment.
Weekly weight change was calculated according to initial weight. Food conception and intake
water were measured in certain day of week.
Results: Induction of diabetes significantly raised plasma glucose (P = .001), increased food and
water intake (P = .05) and decreased weight-gain (P = .05) in diabetic rats. Swimming exercise
had small effect on plasma glucose, weight change, food intake and water intake of trained rats.
Conclusion: According to the result of this study, it seems that exercise alone has small effect
on management of diabetes symptoms and medical approach is necessaryfor this purpose.