Purpose: Diabetes mellitus is the most common metabolic problem worldwide, which is associated with hyperglycemia and structural and functional disorders of the nervous system. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of endurance training on serum glucose levels, weight changes and Like Growth Factor 1 (IGF-1) protein expression in the hippocampus of diabetic rats. Method: For this study, the samples included 48 male Wistar rats (8 weeks old), which were divided into 4 groups: control (C), the diabetes control (DC), diabetes-training (DT) and exercise (T). In order to induce diabetes, streptozotocin injection was used. 5 sessions per week of endurance activity were performed for 6 weeks. 48 hours after the completion of the exercise program, hippocampal tissue was dissected and extracted. ELISA method and one-way variance test were used to analyze the data. Resalts: Based on the results, serum glucose levels decreased after six weeks of endurance training (p=0.001). The amount of IGF-1 in group DC was significantly lower compared to all groups DT, T, and C (P≤0.05). But the DT group had no significant difference with the C and T groups (P=0.210 and P=0.226, respectively). On the other hand, the amount of IGF-1 in group T was only significantly different from group D (P=0.001). The correlation between blood glucose and IGF-1 was significant (p=0.001, r=0.820). Conclusion: Diabetes reduces IGF-1 and hyperglycemia, but exercise moderates the effect of diabetes on IGF-1. Considering the appropriate duration of training and the correlation of this protein with blood glucose, maybe endurance training can reduce the negative effect of diabetes.
