Forced mild physical training-induced effects on cognitive and locomotory behavior in old mice.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the effect of mild forced physical training on cognitive and locomotory behavior in old (26 mo.) mice.


METHODS
Randomized, controlled study.


METHODS
Open-field in the behavioral laboratory.


METHODS
Sixteen old sedentary male mice randomly assigned to one of two groups, exercise (E) or rest (R).


METHODS
group E underwent treadmill running for one month at moderate intensity (belt speed=8 m/min, 45 min, five days a week), group R was only allowed spontaneous locomotor activity.


METHODS
exploratory and locomotor behavior were evaluated in an enriched environment (Ethovision recording).


RESULTS
motor patterns were significantly reduced (chi2 test, p<0.05) in the E vs R group after one month of training; exploratory patterns were not different, both groups showing modest exploratory activity.


CONCLUSIONS
mild forced physical training initiated at old age may have detrimental effect on motor behavior in male mice without improving cognitive parameters.
Department of Morphological and Biomedical Sciences, Anatomy and Histology Section, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
P F
PF
Fabene
R
R
Mariotti
G
G
Navarro Mora
A
A
Chakir
C
C
Zancanaro
D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D008124:Locomotion / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D010805:Physical Conditioning, Animal / Q000379:methods* / Q000502:physiology; D011897:Random Allocation; D012146:Rest / Q000502:physiology