The effect of aerobic exercise and Melissa officinalis extract on the expression of p53, p21 and caspase3 genes in the hippocampal tissue of male rats with induced Alzheimer's disease.

Introduction: Alzheimer's is one of the major health challenges in today's world. This disease gradually causes memory and cognitive functions to deteriorate. Therefore, the present study investigated the effect of aerobic exercise along with consumption of lemon balm extract on the expression of p53, p21, and caspase3 genes in male Alzheimer's mice.
Methods: In the present experimental study, 32 adult male rats were randomly divided into 4 groups: control, resistance training, resistance training and extract, and extract group. Alzheimer's model was created by injecting amyloid beta 42-1 into the hippocampus. Resistance training consisted of 3 training sessions per week for 8 weeks. Real Time PCR method was used to determine the expression of the target genes. One-way analysis of variance test and Tom Hen's post hoc test wereused to analyze the dat.
Results: The results showed that after 8 weeks of aerobic training, the expression of the 53P gene in the intervention groups was significantly reduced compared to the Alzheimer's group (p<0.05). Caspase-3 was also significantly reduced in the Alzheimer's and aerobic exercise group and the Alzheimer's and aerobic exercise and extract group compared to the Alzheimer's group (p<0.05). The expression of the P21 gene in the Alzheimer's and aerobic exercise group and the Alzheimer's and aerobic exercise and supplement group showed a significant increase compared to the Alzheimer's group (p<0.05).
Conclusion: It seems that resistance training and consumption of lemon balm extract reduce the expression of the 53P and caspas34 genes and increase the expression of the 21P genes in male Alzheimer's rats.