Background & Aims: Exercise with modulation of hepatokine counteracts pathological abnormalities of the liver due to fat accumulation. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of high-intensity continuous training (HICT), high-intensity interval training (HIIT), and moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT) on Fetuin-A, FGF-21 and liver enzymes of the obese rats with high-fat diet.
Materials & Methods: A total of 25 male Wistar rats were divided into 5 groups: 1) healthy control; 2) high-Fat Diet (HFD) control; 3) HICT; 4) HIIT and 5) MICT. Except for the healthy control group, all rats were subjected to the high-fat diet for 12 weeks and then the training rats were trained for 12 weeks, 5 sessions a week. Fetuin-A and FGF-21 values were measured by the ELISA method. Data were analyzed by dependent t-test and one-way ANOVA at a significance level of P≤0.05.
Results: The results of the ANOVA test showed that there is a significant difference between groups in Fetuin-A (P = 0.001 and F=7.670) and FGF-21 (P= 0.010 and F=4.394). It was also found that different training modalities had a different effect on hepatokine (MICT: a significant reduce in Fetuin-A and HICT: a significant increase in FGF-21) and had the same effect on ALT and AST. The HFD control significantly increased liver enzymes (P= 0.001). However, all the exercise types significantly decreased these enzymes (for all groups, P= 0.001).
Conclusion: MICT exercises are more capable of controlling liver negative hepatokine such as Fetuin-A that prevent insulin resistance. However highintensity exercises such as HICT can increase the positive factors, such as FGF-21, that modifies the activity of the liver enzymes. As a result, it seems that obese subjects can use moderate to high-intensity exercises to prevent fatty liver.