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General Rehabilitation

The effect of regular aerobic exercise on radiation-induced pulmonary fibrosis: an animal study

(Research Hub Theater) The Effect of Regular Aerobic Exercise on Radiation-induced Pulmonary Fibrosis: An Animal Study

Thursday, November 16, 2023
5:00 PM – 7:00 PM CT

    Primary Author(s)

  • SC

    Seungwoo Cha, MD (he/him/his)

    Clinical fellow
    Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
    Seoul, Seoul-t'ukpyolsi, Republic of Korea

    • Co-Author(s)

  • Seung Hak Lee, MD, PhD

    Professor
    Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea
    Seoul, Seoul-t'ukpyolsi, Republic of Korea

Background and/or Objectives: Radiation-induced pulmonary fibrosis (RIPF) is a common side effect of radiation therapy for thoracic malignancies such as lung cancer. There is insufficient evidence to support the protective effect of regular aerobic exercise against RIPF. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of regular aerobic exercise on RIPF using a lung injury rat model with irradiation.

Design: Animal study (case-control study)

Setting: Animal laboratory in the tertiary hospital

Participants: Twenty-eight SD rats of seven-week-old were randomly divided into four groups; control (CON), training without irradiation (T), irradiation only (IR), irradiation with training (IR+T), respectively.

Interventions: Irradiation dose was a total of 40 Gy to the right lung during a period of 5 consecutive days. Regular aerobic exercise training was conducted using a treadmill, 5 days per week for a total of 7 weeks.

Main Outcome Measures: All four groups underwent the Rota-rod test and pulmonary CT scans before irradiation, after irradiation, at 4 weeks, and at 8 weeks after irradiation. They were sacrificed at 8 weeks after irradiation and lung tissues were obtained for histological and molecular analysis.

Results: Two groups with irradiation (IR and IR+T) showed a tendency to have lower body weight than the other two group. In the Rota-rod test, IR+T group showed significantly higher exercise capacity compared to IR group, which was close to that of CON group. Lung tissue MT stain and hydroxyproline assay showed that IR+T group had significantly decreased fibrosis compared to IR group. Hydroxyproline concentration (μg/mg) was 0.80±0.09 for IR and 0.47±0.14 for IR+T. Superoxide dismutase activity, which protects cells against ROS caused by irradiation, was higher in IR+T group than in IR group.

Conclusions: This study reveals that regular aerobic exercise could reduce RIPF in rats. Future clinical research such as randomized controlled trials to support this finding would be valuable.