Introduction: Nowadays, the use of spirulina supplements has become popular among resistance athletes, while the effect of this supplement and resistance exercises on different organs of the body is unknown.
Aim: The purpose of the current research is to investigate the gene changes of the mTOR upstream pathway in the tissue of all male rats after a period of resistance training and spirulina supplementation.
Methodology: The current research was conducted with a statistical population of 32 Sprague-Dawley male rats. After passing the familiarization period, the rats were randomly divided into 4 groups: control, resistance training (R), spirulina supplement (Sp) and consumption (R+Sp). Rats did resistance training and resistance training group with spirulina for 8 weeks. In the supplementation groups, 200 mg/kg/day of spirulina was added to their drinking water. 24 hours after the last training session, sampling was done.
Then, the expression level of the dependent variables of the study was measured using the REAL TIME-PCR method. Two-way variance test was used to analyze the data at a significance level of 0.05.
Findings: The findings of the present study showed that the expression of IGF-1 gene was not significant in any of the groups. AKT gene expression increased significantly in the training groups (p=0.02) and the interaction group of training and supplementation and (p=0.001). While in the supplement group alone, it was not significant (p=0.82). TSC2 gene expression was not significant in the groups (p= 0.75) and finally while resistance training had a significant effect on Rheb gene expression (p = 0.03), did not have this result in the interactive group (p=0.27).
Conclusion: According to the findings of the research, it can be concluded that resistance training can probably play a role in increasing kidney hypertrophy according to the present research, but the consumption of spirulina moderates this increase in the activity of the pathway and as a result r