RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: Myocardial infarction is the irreversible cell death of cardiac muscle that takes place after the blood flow is cut off to a specific region of the heart muscle. The molecular angiogenesis process that may follow after the incidence, due to any activity or its intensity, is unknown. The purpose of this research was to examine some of the matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) responses to an acute course of endurance exercise and electrical stimulation in induced myocardial infarcted Wistar rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this experimental case-control study, 40 induced myocardial infarcted Wistar rats (8-week-old, mean weight 130±30 g) were randomly assigned into 4 conditions: endurance exercise, exercise + electrical stimulation, only electrical stimulation, and control group. The infarction was induced 24 hours after the subcutaneous injection of 150 mg/kg of Isoproterenol. The exercise and exercise plus electrical stimulation groups performed a session of endurance exercise on an animal treadmill, at 20 m/min for one hour. The electrical stimulation was delivered by foot shock, set with the intensities of 0.5 mA for 20 minutes. Immediately after the cessation of the treatment protocol, MMP1, MMP2, and MMP9 were measured by the ELISA method. Data analysis was performed by using Two-way ANOVA and significance was set at α = 0.05. RESULTS: One session of endurance exercise or electric stimulation, or their combination, had no significant effect on the level of MMPs. CONCLUSIONS: One session of acute endurance exercise, stimulation, or their combination, elicited no significant effect on the level of MMPs of artificially induced myocardial infarcted Wistar rats.