Abstract

Background: Visfatin is a novel adipokine and its relationship with metabolic disorders have recently been studied and many aspects of these relations are unknown. Non-pharmaceutical interventions (e.g. diet, exercise) have shown a great variance of effects on adipokines level. Objective: Investigating the effect of moderate intensity exercise on serum visfatin level and some atherogenic risk factors in obese rats Methods: forty healthy adult male albino rats were divided into two main groups (n=20): lean group (fed on normal laboratory chow diet) and high fat diet induced obesity group (fed a high-fat chow) for 7 weeks. Both are further subdivided into 2 subgroups (n=10): Sedentary group (no exercise) and exercised group (the rats were trained by moderate intensity swimming exercise). At the end of experimental period serum visfatin, insulin, glucose, triglycerides (TG), total, high density lipoprotein (HDL), low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (C) and C-reactive protein (CRP) were investigated. Body mass index (BMI), homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and atherogenic index (AI) were determined in all groups.