Effects of endurance training on hippocampus DJ‐1, cannabinoid receptor type 2 and blood glucose concentration in diabetic rats

AIMS/INTRODUCTION: To investigate the effect of endurance training on hippocampus DJ‐1 and cannabinoid receptor type 2 (CB (2)) protein and blood glucose concentration in diabetic rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 32 rats were randomly divided into diabetic (D), diabetic and exercise (DE), exercise (E) and control (C) groups. The endurance training was carried out five times per week for 6 weeks. The hippocampus DJ‐1 and CB (2) were measured using an enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay method. RESULTS: The level of DJ‐1 in the D group was significantly higher than the other groups (P ≤ 0.01). However, the level of DJ‐1 was not significantly different between the C, E and DE groups. In addition, the level of CB (2) was significantly lower in the D group compared with the other groups (P ≤ 0.01). Blood glucose was significantly higher in the D group compared with the DE group (P ≤ 0.05). Furthermore, a significant positive correlation between the level of DJ‐1 and blood glucose was observed (r = 0.67, P ≤ 0.001). There was also a significant inverse correlation between the level of CB (2) and blood glucose (r = −0.77, P ≤ 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study suggest that the level of DJ‐1 and CB (2) might change in response to diabetes, and regular aerobic exercise could mediate the effect of DJ‐1 and CB (2) on diabetes‐induced neurodegenerative diseases.