Background & objectives: Brain ischemia leads to irreversible functional and structural damage in various regions of the brain, especially in the hippocampus. There is an evidence indicating the physical exercise has neuroprotective effects and may decrease the cerebral ischemia/ reperfusion injury in rats. The purpose of this study was the study of the effect of exercise preconditioning on memory deficits and neuronal cell death in CA3 pyramidal cells of the rat hippocampus following transient global ischemia.

  Methods: 21 male rats weighing 260-300g were randomly selected and allocated into three groups (sham, ischemia and exercise+ischemia). The rats in exercise group were trained to run on a treadmill 5 days a week for 4 weeks. Ischemia induced by occlusion both common carotid arteries (CCA) for 20 minutes. The passive avoidance memory test using a Shuttle box used to assess the impairment of memory. The amount of cell death was measured using cresyl violet staining method.

  Results: The results showed that cerebral ischemia is associated with memory impairment, and physical activity before ischemia improves ischemia-induced memory impairments significantly (p<0.05). In addition, ischemia leads to cell death in hippocampal CA3 area neurons and exercise also reduces ischemia-induced cell death significantly (p<0.05).

  Conclusion: This study showed that exercise, when is used as a preconditioning stimulant , has a neuroprotective effects against brain ischemia.

Background and Objective: Since Abelmoschus esculentus plant has many medical benefits, the present study aimed to investigate the therapeutic effects of Okra Powder (Abelmoschus esculentus) against high-fat diet fed-streptozotocin (HFD/STZ)-induced diabetic rats.

Methods: In this experimental study, 25 Wistar Albino female rats were randomly divided into 5 groups: I: control group; II: healthy rats receiving A. esculentus (200 mg/kg); III (HFD/STZ group): Rats fed with high-fat diet (HFD) (60% fat) for 4 weeks and then injected low-dose STZ (35 mg/kg); IV: diabetic rats receiving A. esculentus (200mg/kg) and V: diabetic rats receiving metformin (200 mg/kg). At the end of experiment, biochemical parameters, including Fasting Blood Glucose (FBG), insulin levels, Homa-IR index, ALT, AST and lipid profile were measured. Pancreas and Liver samples were removed, and 5-6 µ sections were prepared and stained by H&E and aldehyde fuchsin staining.

Results: All the biochemical parameters, except HDL-C and insulin, were increased in diabetic rats, while these parameters were decreased in Okra supplementation group compared to diabetic rats (p<0.05). Furthermore, Okra improved the histological impairments of pancreas and liver, including vacuolization, and decrease of β-cells as well as hypertrophy and vacuolization of hepatocytes in diabetic rats.

Conclusion: Okra powder improved biochemical parameters, liver structure and restoration of beta cells of pancreas in diabetic rats. Thus, it can be considered a complementary therapy to improve diabetic patients.