The Independent and Combined Effects of Aerobic Exercise Training and Eugenol Consumption on Cardiac Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) in Chlorpyrifos Poisoned Rats

Abstract

: Chlorpyrifos is an insecticide that can induce acute and chronic toxicity against the heart by affecting acetylcholinesterase (AChE or acetylhydrolase). The present study investigated the independent and combined effects of aerobic training and eugenol consumption on heart AChE in chlorpyrifos-poisoned rats. A total of 56 healthy Wistar male rats were randomly and equally assigned to several groups receiving various treatments: saline healthy-control, corn oil healthy-sham, dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) healthy-sham, saline-toxic control, saline-toxic-training, eugenol-toxic control, and eugenol-toxic-training. The study groups with toxic labels initially received chlorpyrifos injections for six weeks. Then they received other treatments according to their labels (i.e., moderate-intensity aerobic training five sessions/week for six weeks and/or 250 mg/kg eugenol). Twenty-four hours after the last treatment, rats were anesthetized, and their left ventricles were collected, frozen, and sent to the laboratory. The data were analyzed using one-way and two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). A P-value < 0.05 was considered as a statistically significant difference between groups. The results showed that chlorpyrifos treatment decreased cardiac AChE. Besides, aerobic training and eugenol supplementation independently increased cardiac AChE in chlorpyrifos treated rats. The combination of aerobic training and eugenol consumption had no extra effect on the cardiac AChE level compared with each treatment alone in the rats exposed to chlorpyrifos. In conclusion, aerobic training and eugenol treatment had a positive effect on cardiac AChE in the rats poisoned with chlorpyrifos. So, these interventions may be beneficial to deter the chronic effects of chlorpyrifos on the heart. Future studies should also take into account several other factors related to cardiac health.