(1.School of Physical Education and Health,Zhaoqing University,Zhaoqing 526061,China;2.Laboratory of Laser Sports Medicine,South China Normal University,Guangzhou 510006,China) Abstract: In order to observe the effects of 8-week medium intensity low load training on the levels of proteins Bax and Bcl-2 and the gene messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of axis sirtuin 1 (SIRT1)/sirtuin 3 (SIRT3) of gastrocne-mius of aged rats, the authors divided 16 18-month old female SD rats randomly into a control group and an exercise group, each of which contained 8 rats, let the rats in the exercise group do an aerobic exercise on a treadmill for con-secutive 8 weeks, at a speed of 15 km/h (with 60%~75%VO2max), 15 minutes a day, 5 days a week, let the rats in the control group live freely, in 24 hours after rat exercising at the end of week 8, killed the rats, measured gastrocnemius index, measured the levels of proteins Bax and Bcl-2 of gastrocnemius by means of Western blot analysis, measured the mRNA levels of SIRT3, SIRT1, manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD), Caspase 3, peroxisome prolifera-tor-activated receptor-γ coactivator-1 (PGC-1α), mitochondrial transcription factor A (TFAM) and nuclear respiratory factor 1 (NRF1) by means of RT-PCR, and revealed the following findings: as for the rats in the exercise group, their gastrocnemius mass and gastrocnemius index increased significantly (P<0.05 and P<0.01 respectively), their protein Bax level decreased significantly (P<0.05), their protein Bcl-2 level and Bcl-2/Bax ratio increased significantly (P<0.05); their mRNA levels of SIRT3, SIRT1, PGC-1α, NRF1, TFAM and MnSOD increased significantly (P<0.05), their mRNA level of Caspase-3 decreased significantly (P<0.05). The said findings indicated the followings: medium intensity low load training could delay the changing of muscle cell apoptosis signal of aged rats; the homeostatic mechanism mediated by axis SIRT1/SIRT3 played an important role in medium intensity low load training increasing the mitochondria refreshing rate and antioxidase level of skeletal muscle of aged rats. Key words: sports biochemistry;sports training;skeletal muscle;type 3 sirtuins;homeostasis;aged rat |