Background: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is associated with a systemic procoagulant hypofibrinolysis state that is considered as a risk factor for microangiopathy and peripheral vascular diseases. Swimming exercise ameliorates the metabolic dysfunction in type 2 diabetes. Vitamin E is a natural antioxidant that reduces the risk of endothelial dysfunction in metabolic syndrome. The aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of combined swimming exercise with vitamin E on coagulation as well as blood fibrinolysis markers in rats with NAFLD.
Methods: Eighty male rats were divided into control, control+vitamin E, control+exercise, high-fat diet (HFD), HFD+vitamin E, HFD+exercise, and HFD+vitamin E+exercise groups. Glucose, insulin, homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), triglycerides, cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL), alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST), intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM-1), vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM-1), endothelin-1, von Willebrand factor (vWF), fibrinogen, plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI-1), fibrin degradation products (FDP), platelet count and aggregation, bleeding and clotting times, activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), and prothrombin time (PT) were determined.
Results: HFD increased lipid profile, insulin, glucose, HOMA-IR, liver enzymes, adhesion molecules, endothelin-1, vWF, platelet aggregation, fibrinogen, FDP, and PAI-1, and decreased clotting and bleeding times and HDL. Although exercise reduced lipid profile, glucose, insulin, HOMA-IR, vWF, platelet aggregation, fibrinogen, FDP, and PAI-1 and increased PT, aPTT, bleeding and clotting times, and HDL, vitamin E had no effect.
Conclusions: Exercise, but not vitamin E, ameliorated the HFD-induced prothrombotic state and enhanced fibrinolytic activity.
Keywords: coagulation; exercise; high-fat diet; platelets; vitamin E.