• Fariba Aghaei, Alexei Wong, Mehdi Zargani, Amir Sarshin, Foad Feizolahi, Zhila Derakhshan, Mohammadreza Hashemi, and Ehsan Arabzadeh.
• Department of Exercise Physiology, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran.
• Nutrition. 2023 Nov 1; 115: 112167112167.

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to demonstrate that swimming exercise combined with silymarin and vitamin C supplementation improves hepatic inflammation, oxidative stress, and liver histopathology in elderly rats with high-fat diet-induced liver damage.MethodsForty elderly male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to five groups (n = 8 in each): a normal diet (control), a high-fat diet (HFD), HFD + silymarin and vitamin C supplementation (HFD+Sup), HFD + swimming exercise (HFD+Exe), and HFD+Sup+Exe group (HFD+Sup+Exe). The non-alcoholic fatty liver model was induced for 6 wk in the HFD groups. After 6 wk of consuming an HFD, a daily supplemental gavage was administered to rats as an intervention along with HFD in the supplement groups for 8 wk. Moreover, rats in the exercise groups were subjected to swimming exercise training 5 d/wk for the same period.ResultsThe combination of swimming training and supplementation caused significant decreases in liver inflammatory biomarkers tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-1β while increasing total antioxidant capacity and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (P < 0.05).ConclusionIn elderly rats with liver injury caused by an HFD, the combination of exercise and silymarin with vitamin C supplementation effectively reduced oxidative stress, liver inflammation, fat accumulation, and regulated liver enzymes.Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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