Exercise and time-dependent benefits to learning and memory

Abstract

While it is well established that exercise can improve cognitive performance, it is unclear how long these benefits endure after exercise has ended. Accordingly, the effects of voluntary exercise on cognitive function and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) protein levels, a major player in the mechanisms governing the dynamics of memory formation and storage, were assessed immediately after a 3-week running period, or after a 1-week or 2-week delay following the exercise period. All exercised mice showed improved performance on the radial arm water maze relative to sedentary animals. Unexpectedly, fastest acquisition (fewest errors and shortest latency) occurred in animals trained following a 1-week delay, while best memory performance in the probe trial was observed in those trained immediately after the exercise period. Assessment of the time course of hippocampal BDNF availability following exercise revealed significant elevations of BDNF immediately after the exercise period (186% of sedentary levels) and at 1 and 2 weeks after exercise ended, with levels returning to baseline by 3-4 weeks. BDNF protein levels showed a positive correlation with cognitive improvement in radial water maze training and with memory performance on day 4, supporting the idea that BDNF availability contributes to the timedependent cognitive benefits of exercise revealed in this study. Overall, this novel approach assessing the temporal endurance of cognitive and biochemical effects of exercise unveils new concepts in the exercise-learning field, and reveals that beneficial effects of exercise on brain plasticity continue to evolve even after exercise has ended.

Corticosterone and dopamine D2/D3 receptors mediate the motivation for voluntary wheel running in C57BL/6J mice

“…Unlimited access to voluntary wheel running generally improves memory in C57BL/6J mice [36,37]. The lack of behavioural and cognitive effects of intermittent wheel running in our study raises the question of whether there are optimal levels of exercise for behavioural changes to occur.…”

The Effect of Exercise on Learning and Spatial Memory Following Stress-Induced Sleep Deprivation (Sleep REM) in Rats

“…Various protocols of differing intensities of exercise can also lead to different effects on the neurological function (40). Furthermore, based on learning definition, relatively stable are as the learning aspects.…”

Impaired Adaptive Cellular Responses to Oxidative Stress and the Pathogenesis of Alzheimer's Disease

“…In the same study it was found that inhibition of BDNF during running prevents the enhanced memory function associated with running. Other studies in mice have shown that BDNF levels are increased in the hippocampus within 3 weeks of voluntary exercise and levels remain high up to 2 weeks after the end of the exercise period (15). BDNF levels did not return to baseline until after 3-4 weeks after the running period, and the performance in the radial arm maze was best when performed 1 week after the end of running.…”