Physical Exercise Reverses Cognitive Impairment in Rats Subjected to Experimental Hyperprolinemia

Abstract

This study investigated whether physical exercise would reverse proline-induced performance deficits in water maze tasks, as well as its effects on brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) immunocontent and brain acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity in Wistar rats. Proline administration followed partial time (6th-29th day of life) or full time (6th-60th day of life) protocols. Treadmill exercise was performed from 30th to 60th day of life, when behavioral testing was started. After that, animals were sacrificed for BDNF and AChE determination. Results show that proline impairs cognitive performance, decreases BDNF in cerebral cortex and hippocampus and increases AChE activity in hippocampus. All reported effects were prevented by exercise. These results suggest that cognitive, spatial learning/memory, deficits caused by hyperprolinemia may be associated, at least in part, to the decrease in BDNF levels and to the increase in AChE activity, as well as support the role of physical exercise as a potential neuroprotective strategy.

Exercise-induced improvement in cognitive performance after fimbria-fornix transection depends on the timing of exercise administration

“…The lesion-induced impairment in the FF-transected groups was expected and in accordance with previous results (Malá et al, 2005(Malá et al, , 2008. The beneficial effects of exercise are in agreement with studies using other models of brain injury (controlled cortical impact and lateral fluid-percussion injury) showing improved posttraumatic cognitive performance (Ferreira et al, 2011b;Griesbach et al, 2004b;Shen et al, 2013). The exercise regimen had no effect on the performance of the sham operated control groups.…”

Physical exercise reverses glutamate uptake and oxidative stress effects of chronic homocysteine administration in the rat

“…Evidence suggests that dynamic physical exercise produces elevated regional cerebral blood flow, alterations in endogenous peptides and neurotransmitters, and increases in amino acid transport through the blood brain barrier (Herholz et al, 1987;Ide et al, 1999). In agreement with present findings, there are studies showing that physical exercise can improve cognitive function and exert neuroprotective effects in various conditions that affect the CNS, such as Alzheimer's disease (Adlard et al, 2005;Um et al, 2008), cerebral ischemia (Cechetti et al, 2007;Zhang et al, 2011), schizophrenia (Pajonk et al, 2010) metabolic diseases and others (Ben et al, 2009(Ben et al, ,2010Ferreira et al, 2012). These data draw attention for the potential neuroprotective role of physical exercise.…”

D-Galactose Causes Motor Coordination Impairment, and Histological and Biochemical Changes in the Cerebellum of Rats

“…Impairment in the cerebellar cholinergic system has been implicated in several motor diseases, due the involvement of the cholinergic system in movement control [67]. Acetylcholine plays a key role in cell survival, and it has been associated with neurodegenerative diseases [34,36]. An important finding that gives support is that cells with increased AChE activity can easily switch to an apoptotic state by caspases cleavage [68].…”

“…It has been shown that in the hippocampus, BDNF production is directly influenced by acetylcholine levels [33]. In this context, several studies have shown that acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibition increases BDNF levels by prolonging acetylcholine action on its receptors [34,35]. The crosstalk between the cholinergic system and BDNF production suggests an important role of the cholinergic system in cell survival [36].…”