Comparative effects of exercise training on transcription of antioxidant enzyme and the activity in old rat heart

An increase in antioxidant enzyme activity after acute exercise and exercise training have been reported by many investigators including our laboratory. This study was undertaken in order to determine whether an increase in activity of superoxide dismutase (MnSOD and CuZnSOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) during exercise training was associated with the increased levels of respective mRNAs. Male Fisher-344 rats (age 77 weeks) were given exercise training for 9 weeks on the treadmill. Enzyme activity and mRNA's were measured in the heart tissue 23 hr after stopping exercise training. The heart tissues of exercised and sedentary control rats were used to isolate mRNAs encoding MnSOD, CuZnSOD, CAT and GSH-Px by northern blotting experiments. The intensities of mRNA bands were measured by densitometric scanning of the autoradiograms. Northern blot for tubulin was used to normalize the respective intensities. Compared to sedentary controls, the level of mRNAs of enzymes MnSOD, CAT and GSH-Px were found to increase by 126 +/- 5, 133 +/- 6, and 138 +/- 5 percent of sedentary control (mean +/- SEM) respectively, due to exercise training. Corresponding values for these enzyme activity were 153 +/- 19%, 255 +/- 7%, 133 +/- 2% of sedentary control. These results suggest that post-translational modification of these enzyme activity increased in response to exercise training more than increased transcription in aged rats.