Alterations in Morphology and Aerobic Resistance of Rats Subjected to Different Physical Training Protocols

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the alterations in morphology and aerobic resistance of rats subjected to different physical training protocols. The study consisted of 55 rats of the Wistar breed, 100 days of age, over a period of 8 weeks. The animals were randomly distributed between four groups: control (CTLF.); neuromuscular anaerobic (TAN); aerobic (TAB) and concurrent training (TCc). After four weeks, some of the animals were euthanized. The body mass index (BMO, Lee index (Lee), epididymal adipose tissue (TecAdp), body weight, and feed efficiency ratio (CoefAlim) were measured. The Anaerobic Threshold was determined by critical workload (7 %, 9 % and 11 % of body weight). TAE and TCc training caused alterations in Lee and BMI, at four and eight weeks respectively (LeeTAE=X:2.86 +/- 0.08; X:2.89 +/- 0.07 and LeeTCc=X:2.85 +/- 0.05; X:3.00 +/- 0.09). For the TecAdp, all groups presented a decrease, with the TCc value down after eight weeks (X:1.77 +/- 0.32). Finally, TAN training improved the CoefAlim (X:31.57 +/- 3.70) after the eight week period and the TCc presented the highest value for Lan (X:7.10 +/- 0.80).