Aim and Background: Diabetes is a chronic disease that affects the metabolism of sugar or blood glucose. This disease is caused by insulin resistance in the body. Diabetes can lead to various complications in the body, including liver damage. Berberine reduces the amount of damage caused by oxidative stress on mitochondria and increases the antioxidant capacity of liver tissue. exercise training causes mitochondrial biogenesis in diabetic patients. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of aerobic exercise with different doses of berberine chloride on the apoptosis of liver cells in diabetic male rats with streptozotocin.

Material and methods: In this experimental study, 64 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 8 groups of 8. The groups include the control group, diabetic, diabetic and taking berberine chloride with a dose of 15 mg/kg, diabetic and taking berberine chloride with a dose of 30 mg/kg, diabetic with aerobic exercise, taking berberine chloride with a dose of 15 mg/kg, diabetic with aerobic exercise and the consumption of berberine chloride with a dose of 30 mg/kg, diabetics with aerobic exercise and the control group with aerobic exercise were divided. Intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin 60mg/kg was used to make diabetic groups diabetic. Berberine chloride (15 and 30 mg/Kg) was taken orally by gavage once a day. The exercise groups performed aerobic exercise for 6 weeks with an intensity of 50-55% of maximum oxygen consumption. 48 hours after the last training session, the liver tissue was extracted to check the changes of caspase3 protein. Using the TUNEL method, the amount of apoptosis in the liver tissue was evaluated. Data were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance and Tukey's follow-up test.

Results: In the present study, diabetic rats showed a significant increase in liver tissue apoptosis and caspase3 protein expression. Treatment of diabetic animals with berberine in doses of 15 and 30 mg/kg led to a significant reduction of apoptotic cells in diabetic rats. The expression of caspase3 protein in the diabetic group with aerobic exercise and berberine chloride consumption at a dose of 30 mg/kg was significantly decreased compared to the diabetic group and berberine chloride consumption at a dose of 15 mg/kg.