Effect of cold adaptation on activities of relevant enzymes and antioxidant system in rats

Exercise in cold environments can cause significant metabolic regulation and antioxidant behavior. For discussing enzymatic responses towards cold adaptation, we investigated enzyme activities of adenylate cyclase (AC) and phosphodiesterase (PDE) in liver, skeletal muscle, and brown adipose tissue (BAT), as well as Na+K+ ATPase and Na+/K+ ratio in blood. Malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity in blood were also studied to address the effect of cold adaptation on oxidative damage and antioxidant system. Experimental results indicated that enzyme activities in liver, skeletal muscle and BAT maintained relatively constant for the control group. For the cold adaptation group, enzyme activities in liver and skeletal muscle were in high levels at the beginning, and then gradually decreased to similar values with the control group. However, enzyme activities in BAT performed an increasing trend and significantly higher than the control at the end. In addition, decreased oxidative damage and activated antioxidant system was observed along with the cold adaptation process.