This study investigated the combined effect of myostatin (MSTN) gene-suppressing DNA interference (DNAi) and resistance training on cardiac and skeletal muscle tissues in male Wistar rats. Myostatin is a potent inhibitor of muscle growth, secreted by both skeletal muscle and myocardium. The DNAi was administered at 10 microgram/kg via intraperitoneal injection, combined with a standard resistance training protocol (3 times/week) across four treatment groups. The primary goal was to evaluate changes in tissue mass, histology, the expression of MSTN, MyoD, and FSTL1, and plasma parameters (triglyceride and cholesterol). Results showed the combined therapy caused significant differences in organ weights, including the gastrocnemius muscle and heart. Crucially, statistically significant changes were observed in heart histology (P=0.000) and the expression of MSTN (P=0.045^*) and FSTL1 (P=0.044^*) in heart tissue, but not in the gastrocnemius muscle. These findings highlight the impact of the intraperitoneal injection on cardiac tissue and emphasize the importance of injection type for target tissue delivery.

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