It is believed that sports exercises have minimal impacts on the pathological changes in the lung tissue exposed to chemical carcinogens in cigarette smoke. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of 12 weeks of swimming exercises on IL-6 concentration in the lung tissue of rats following the injection of carcinogen NNK. Materials and Methods: This study is experimental in terms of the design. Forty-six Wistar rats were divided into five groups: A) Exercise (E), B) Exercise-NNK (EN),

more »

... Exercise-NNK (EN), C) NNK (N), D) Control (C) and E) Vehicle (V). Exercise groups completed the swimming exercises for twelve weeks, five days per week (25-60min). Rats of vehicle and NNK treatment groups were respectively administered subcutaneous injections of distilled water and NNK (12.5mg/kg, once a week, 12weeks). Then, samples of the lung tissue were collected and IL-6 concentration was measured by ELISA technique. One-way analysis of variance and Tukey post hoc test were used for data analysis at the level of p ≤ 0.05. Results: The results indicated a significant decrease of IL-6 concentration in exercise (p=0.009), exercise-NKK (p=0.006) groups and vehicle (p=0.006) with NKK groups; while there was no significant difference between exercise groups and the control groups. The swimming exercises can reduce IL-6 concentration significantly in lung tissue of rats following the injection of carcinogen NNK. Conclusion: It seems that endurance exercises, along with other therapeutic methods, can play a role in reducing the effects of carcinogen NNK and negative effects of smoking by decreasing the inflammatory factor of IL-6.