The Effect of Chronic Swimming Exercise and Vitamin E Supplementation on Bone Element Metabolism in Epileptic Rats

This study aimed to investigate the effects of chronic swimming exercise and vitamin E administration on elemental levels in the bone tissue of epileptic rats.

Forty-eight rats were divided into six groups: Control, Swimming, Swimming + vitamin E, Swimming + Epilepsy, Swimming + Epilepsy + vitamin E, and Epilepsy. Vitamin E was administered to the animals chronically by gavage at a dose of 500 mg/kg every other day for 3 months. Epileptiform activity was induced with penicillin in animals 24 hours after the last vitamin E intake. The exercise program consisted of daily 30-minute swimming sessions. At the end of the treatment period, the levels of calcium, chromium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, lead, and zinc (µg/gram tissue) in bone tissue samples were measured using an atomic emission device.

The results showed that all epileptic groups had significantly lower bone chromium levels compared to the control groups (p<0.05). The epileptic, and epileptic swimming groups had the lowest levels of bone calcium, magnesium, and zinc (p<0.05). Vitamin E administration resulted in a significant increase in bone calcium, magnesium, and zinc levels in the epileptic swimming group with vitamin E compared to the epileptic and epileptic swimming groups. (p<0.05).

The findings of the study show that the administration of vitamin E improves calcium, magnesium, and zinc metabolism in the deteriorated bone tissue of the epileptic rat model.