Antioxidant and antiapoptotic effects of pine needle powder ingestion and endurance training in high cholesterol-fed rats

[PURPOSE]: Pine needle is a kind of medicinal plant ingested traditionally for a variety of purposes. Therefore, we examined the antioxidant and antiapoptotic capacities of pine needle ingestion in high cholesterol-fed and endurance exercise-trained rats. [METHODS]: Animals were divided into six groups as; CON: normal diet control group; EX: normal diet and exercise training group; HC: high cholesterol diet group; HCE: high cholesterol diet and exercise training group; HCP: high cholesterol and pine needle group; HCPE: high-cholesterol and pine needle diet with exercise training group, respectively. Each group consisted of seven Sprague-Dawley male rats. The swim-training groups, EX, HCE, and HCPE swam in the swim pool 60 min/d and 5 d/week for 5 weeks. During the rearing periods, freeze-dried pine needle powder mix with 5% of the high cholesterol diet was supplied to the HCP and HCPE groups. Gastrocnemius muscle was used as the skeletal muscle. Malondialdehyde (MDA), Mn-containing superoxide dismutase (Mn-SOD), Cu, Zn containing superoxide dismutase (Cu,Zn-SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) were analyzed for their antioxidant capacities. Finally, p53, Bcl-2 (B-cell lymphoma 2), caspase-3 protein expression was analyzed to determine antiapoptotic ability. [RESULTS]: MDA showed low content in HCPE compared to the HC. Mn-SOD, Cu,Zn-SOD, and GPx protein expression was significantly increased by pine needle ingestion and/or exercise training. In addition, suppression of p53 protein expression resulted in Bcl-2 increase followed by caspase-3 decrease with/without pine needle ingestion and exercise training. [CONCLUSION]: When exercise training in addition to pine needle powder ingestion may be a helpful nutritional regimen to athletes and exercisers.