Treadmill exercise improves short-term memory by suppressing ischemia-induced apoptosis of neuronal cells in gerbils

doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2004.09.060

Neuroscience Letters

Volume 372, Issue 3, 6 December 2004, Pages 256-261

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neulet.2004.09.060 Get rights and content

Abstract

In the present study, the effect of treadmill exercise on short-term memory, apoptotic neuronal cell death, and cell proliferation in the hippocampal dentate gyrus following transient global ischemia in gerbils was investigated. Step-down inhibitory avoidance task, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay, and immunohistochemistry for caspase-3 and 5-bromo-2′-deoxyuridine (BrdU) were used. Ischemia was induced by the occlusion of both common carotid arteries (CCA) of gerbils for 5 min. Gerbils in exercise groups were forced to run on a treadmill for 30 min once a day for 10 consecutive days. Such treadmill exercise improved short-term memory by suppressing the ischemia-induced apoptotic neuronal cell death in the dentate gyrus. In addition, treadmill running suppressed the ischemia-induced cell proliferation in the dentate gyrus. The present results suggest that treadmill exercise overcomes the ischemia-induced apoptotic neuronal cell death and thus facilitates the recovery following ischemic cerebral injury.

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Acknowledgement

This work was supported by a Korea Research Foundation Grant (KRF-2003-050-G00005).

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Treadmill exercise improves short-term memory by suppressing ischemia-induced apoptosis of neuronal cells in gerbils

Abstract

Section snippets

Acknowledgement

Trends Neurosci.

Neuropharmacology

Brain Res.

Neurosci. Lett.

Exp. Neurol.

Life Sci.

Brain Res.

Auton. Neurosci.

Neurobiol. Dis.

Specific caspase pathways are activated in the two stages of cerebral infarction

J. Neurosci.

Circulating insulin-like growth factor I mediates the protective effects of physical exercise against brain insults of different etiology and anatomy

J. Neurosci.

Caspases: the executioners of apoptosis

Biochem. J.

Neurogenesis in the adult human hippocampus

Nat. Med.

Improvement of cognitive function by mental and/or individualized aerobic training in healthy elderly subjects

Int. J. Sports Med.