The effects of chronic exercise and cannabidiol administration on glucose metabolism, oxidative stress and chronic inflammation in obesity and metabolic syndrome

In this study, we aimed to investigate the effects of exercise and cannabidiol on selected target genes for glucose metabolism, oxidative stress and chronic inflammation in rats with obesity induced by high-fat diet. The study with a randomized controlled experimental design was conducted on 40 male Sprague-Dawley rats aged 8 weeks. The rats were randomly assigned to 5 groups with 8 rats in each group (Control, Obese Control, Obese Exercise, Obese CBD, Obese Exercise CBD). The intervention protocol consisted of 6 weeks of swimming exercise (30 min/day, 5 days/week) and CBD (10 mg/kg/day/week) by oral gavage. The expression levels of the target genes examined in adipose tissue and liver tissues were determined by quantitative real-time PCR. SPSS 22.0 (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA) package program was used for data analysis. The data were analyzed using One Way Anova for the determination of significant differences and LSD test for the determination of significant differences between groups. According to the results, there were significant differences between the groups in terms of BMI and blood glucose levels after exercise and cannabidiol administration. According to the results of the analysis, it was determined that there were significant differences between the groups in terms of BMI and blood glucose levels of rats after exercise and cannabidiol administration. It was determined that significant differences occurred between the groups in markers of chronic inflammation, oxidative stress and glucose metabolism examined in liver and adipose tissues. As a result, it was found that 6-week chronic swimming exercise and cannabidiol administration provided improvement in the target genes examined, especially the combined exercise and cannabidiol intervention was found to have a higher potency. Based on these data, it may be beneficial to combine regular exercise and supportive therapies to be applied in appropriate doses and forms in order to improve metabolic health parameters in obese individuals.