Increasing the HDL cholesterol level by 1 mg may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease by 2 or 3%. This protective effect of HDL is due to its role in the process of reverse cholesterol transport (RCT). RCT process consists of removing excess cholesterol from peripheral cells to the liver to exert as bile. The first step of RCT mediates by ABCA1. Dysfunction of ABCA1 in human and animal model leads to severe decrease of HDL level and incident of arteriosclerosis while the over-expression of this gene has opposite effects. So it seems that knowing the activator of this gene may have beneficial effect in prevention of cardiovascular diseases. To examine the effect of exercise training of the expression of hepatic ABCA1, 10 male wistar rats were subjected to treadmill running for 6 weeks, 5 days a week, 90 min with 26 m/min during each training session. The results of this study clearly showed the expression of hepatic ABCA1 following the 3 weeks of endurance training. So it seems that one of the positive effects of exercise training in prevention of cardiovascular diseases may be the expression of ABCA1, which is the first key step in reverse cholesterol transport.

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