Long-term treadmill exercise overcomes ischemia-induced apoptotic neuronal cell death in gerbils

• Published in: Physiology & behavior Vol. 84; no. 5; pp. 733 - 738
• Main Authors: Sim, Young-Je, Kim, Hong, Kim, Jee-Youn, Yoon, Sung-Jin, Kim, Sung-Soo, Chang, Hyun-Kyung, Lee, Taeck-Hyun, Lee, Hee-Hyuk, Shin, Min-Chul, Shin, Mal-Soon, Kim, Chang-Ju
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Elsevier Inc 13.04.2005; New York, NY Elsevier
• Subjects: Anatomical correlates of behavior; Animal; Animals; Apoptosis - physiology; Apoptotic neuronal cell death; Avoidance Learning - physiology; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Caspase 3; Caspases - metabolism; Dentate Gyrus - pathology; Dentate Gyrus - physiology; DNA Fragmentation; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gerbillinae; Gerbils; Hippocampus; Hippocampus - pathology; Hippocampus - physiology; Immunohistochemistry; In Situ Nick-End Labeling; Ischemic Attack, Transient - pathology; Learning. Memory; Male; Memory; Neurons - pathology; Neurons - physiology; Physical Conditioning, Animal - physiology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Short-term memory; Transient global ischemia; Gerbils; Transient global ischemia; Apoptotic neuronal cell death; Hippocampus; Short-term memory; Short term; Animal model; Memory; Central nervous system; Cardiovascular disease; Vascular disease; Ischemia; Cerebrovascular disease; Treadmill exercise; Nervous system diseases; Rodentia; Long term; Cerebral disorder; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Spontaneous physical activity; Neuron; Cell death; Animal; Central nervous system disease; Gerbil
• ISSN: 0031-9384; 1873-507X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2005.02.019

It has been suggested that exercise may ameliorate neurologic impairment by impeding neuronal loss following various brain insults. In the present study, the effect of long-term treadmill exercise on short-term memory and apoptotic neuronal cell death in the hippocampus following transient global ischemia in gerbils was investigated. A step-down inhibitory avoidance task, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay, and immunohistochemistry for caspase-3 were used for this study. Ischemia was induced by occlusion of both the common carotid arteries of gerbils for 5 min. Gerbils in the exercise groups were forced to run on a treadmill for 30 min once a day for 4 consecutive weeks. The present results reveal that treadmill exercise for 4 weeks improved short-term memory by suppressing the ischemia-induced apoptotic neuronal cell death in the hippocampus. Here in this study, we show that long-term treadmill exercise for 4 weeks overcomes the ischemia-induced apoptotic neuronal cell death and thus facilitates the recovery of short-term memory impairment induced by ischemic cerebral injury.