Pre-ischemic treadmill training affects glutamate and gamma aminobutyric acid levels in the striatal dialysate of a rat model of cerebral ischemia.
OBJECTIVE
Treadmill training has been shown to improve function in animal models and patients with cerebral ischemia. However, the neurochemical effects of this intervention on the ischemic brain have not been well studied. This study was designed to evaluate the effects of pre-ischemic treadmill training on the release of glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) from the striatum in a rat middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) model.


METHODS
Rats were divided into five groups: sham control without MCAO, and 0, 1, 2 and 4 weeks pre-ischemic treadmill training. After training, cerebral ischemia was induced by MCAO for 120 min, followed by reperfusion. Microdialysis was used to collect dialysates from the striatum immediately before ischemia, and at 40, 80 and 120 min after ischemia, as well as at 40, 80, 120, 160, 200 and 240 min after reperfusion.


RESULTS
Pre-ischemic treadmill training decreased glutamate release and increased GABA release during the acute phase of cerebral ischemia/reperfusion. Treadmill training for at least 2 weeks produced statistically significant changes in GABA/glutamate release.


CONCLUSIONS
The present study suggests that treadmill training inhibits the excessive release of glutamate, by stimulating GABA release during the acute phase of cerebral ischemia. This may be one of the important mechanisms to protect the striatal neurons from ischemic damage.
Jia
Jie
J
Department of Rehabilitation, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200040, China.
Hu
Yong-Shan
YS
Wu
Yi
Y
Liu
Gang
G
Yu
Hui-Xian
HX
Zheng
Qing-Ping
QP
Zhu
Da-Nian
DN
Xia
Chun-Mei
CM
Cao
Zhi-Juan
ZJ
D000818:Animals; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000378:metabolism*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005080:Exercise Test; D018698:Glutamic Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D020244:Infarction, Middle Cerebral Artery / Q000150:complications; D019194:Ischemic Preconditioning; D008297:Male; D017551:Microdialysis; D010805:Physical Conditioning, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / Q000378:metabolism*
D018698:Glutamic Acid; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid