The Effects of Simultaneous 8 Weeks Astragalus sp/ Euphorbia Cheriradenia Honey Supplementation and Endurance Training on Membrane Lipid Peroxidation of Erythrocytes after a Bout Acute Exhaustive Treadmill Exercise in Rats

Strenuous exercise is known to induce oxidative stress leading to the generation of free radicals. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of honey, at a dose (1.5 g/kg weight per d) on the MDA and SOD levels of plasma in rats after exhaustive exercise. Male rats (n=48) were divided into four groups, group 1, sedentary with distilled water (Sed -DW n=12), group 2, sedentary control with honey (Sed-H N=12), group 3, exercise trained with distilled water (ET-WD n=12), group 4, exercise trained with honey (ET- H n=12) groups. Four groups were further divided equally into two groups where the rats were studied at rest and immediately after exhaustive exercise. During the training period, groups 2 4 were treated with 1.5 g/kg body weight honey, freshly diluted by distilled water to 50% and the other groups 1 3 were treated with distilled water (1 ml) just before each administration intragastrically tube daily at 8:00 to rats / once daily for 8 weeks. Endurance training consisted of treadmill running 1.5 h day-1, 5 days a week for 8 weeks, reaching the speed of 2.1 kmh-1at the fourth week. For acute exhaustive exercise, graded treadmill running was conducted reaching the speed of 2.1 km h-1 at the 95th min, 10% uphill, and was continued until exhaustion. Erythrocyte MDA level was significantly increased after exhaustion in groups 1 3 but not in groups 2 4 animals compared with the corresponding sedentary rest. Honey treatment caused a significant decrease in MDA levels of groups 2 4 compared to the groups 1 3 animals. While acute exhaustive exercise decreased erythrocyte SOD activity in subgroups 1 3 rats, it increased the activity of this enzyme in groups 2 4 rats. Treadmill training increased the endurance time in trained rats compared with sedentary rats. The results of this study suggest that honey supplementation may be useful to prevent acute exhaustive exercise-induced oxidative stress in erythrocytes by up-regulating some of the antioxidant enzyme activities and may have implications in exercising humans.