Pulmonary impairment in type 2 diabetic rats and its improvement by exercise.

Aim: We aimed to evaluate whether the streptozotocin-induced diabetic model can generate lung functional, histological and biochemical impairments and whether moderate exercise can prevent these changes.

Methods: Wistar rats were assigned to control (CTRL), exercise (EXE), diabetic (D) and diabetic with exercise (D+EXE) groups. We used the n5-STZ model of diabetes mellitus triggered by a single injection of streptozotocin (STZ, 120 mg/kg b.