Exercise Training Attenuates the Development of Cardiac Autonomic Dysfunction in Diabetic Rats

Exercise training usually complements pharmacological therapy of type 1 diabetes mellitus, however, little is known about its impact on cardiac autonomic neuropathy. Our aim was to evaluate the impact of exercise on electrocardiographic parameters and heart rate variability in diabetic rats. Wistar rats were randomly assigned to four groups (n=12): Sedentary control (SC), sedentary diabetic (SD), exercise control (EC), and exercise diabetic (ED). Diabetes was induced by a single intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (45 mg/kg). Exercise groups underwent 8 weeks of training on a treadmill. At the end of the study, echocardiography was performed and continuous electrocardiographic recording was obtained by intra-abdominally implanted telemetric devices. Diabetes induction significantly reduced the heart rate and increased the blood glucose level (p