Effects of smoking and exercise on CGRP level in rats

Calcitonin gene related peptide (CGRP) is a neuropeptide which has 37 amino acids. CGRP is distributed throughout the central and peripheral nervous system. The most important known effect of CGRP is causes vasodilation in systemic and pulmonary vessels. CGRP is also involved in regulation of blood pressure, inflammation and pain mechanism. Aerobic exercise is increases the CGRP production and that is improves collateral circulation. Cigarette smoke activates tracheal CGRP releasing and CGRP causes vasodilatation in both trachea and bronchial. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between effects of smoking and exercise, and CGRP. A total of 56 male and female Wistar type rats were used in this study. Rats; control, smoking, exercise, smoking+exercise groups were divided into four groups. The same grouping was done separately for male and female rats and a total of eight groups were formed. Treadmill exercise were given to execise groups for 6 weeks, 5 days a week, 30 min/day and 15 m/min. The cigarette groups of rats were exposed to cigarette smoke for 6 weeks, 5 days per week, 30 minutes per day. At the end of the study, blood samples were collected and serum CGRP levels were determined by ELISA method. As a result of this study; the difference of serum CGRP levels between control and practice groups was not statistically significant. However, the serum CGRP levels of male rats were significantly higher than the serum CGRP levels of the female rats (p = 0.001). Keywords: Calcitonin gene related peptide, Cigarette smoke, Exercise, Treadmill, Wistar type rat