Effects of voluntary running on spatial memory and mature brain-derived neurotrophic factor expression in mice hippocampus after status epilepticus.
Voluntary physical activity improves memory and learning ability in rodents, whereas status epilepticus has been associated with memory impairment. Physical activity and seizures have been associated with enhanced hippocampal expression of BDNF, indicating that this protein may have a dual role in epilepsy. The influence of voluntary physical activity on memory and BDNF expression has been poorly studied in experimental models of epilepsy. In this paper, we have investigated the effect of voluntary physical activity on memory and BDNF expression in mice with pilocarpine-induced epilepsy. Male Swiss mice were assigned to four experimental groups: pilocarpine sedentary (PS), pilocarpine runners (PRs), saline sedentary (SS) and saline runners (SRs). Two days after pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus, the affected mice (PR) and their running controls (SR) were housed with access to a running wheel for 28 days. After that, the spatial memory and the expression of the precursor and mature forms of hippocampal BDNF were assessed. PR mice performed better than PS mice in the water maze test. In addition, PR mice had a higher amount of mature BDNF (14kDa) relative to the total BDNF (14kDa+28kDa+32kDa forms) content when compared with PS mice. These results show that voluntary physical activity improved the spatial memory and increased the hippocampal content of mature BDNF of mice with pilocarpine-induced status epilepticus.
Sartori
César Renato
CR
Department of Physiology & Biophysics, Institute of Biology, State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), P.O. Box 6109, 13083-970, Campinas, SP, Brazil. cesarsartori@yahoo.com.br
Pelágio
Fernanda Campos
FC
Teixeira
Simone Aparecida
SA
Valentinuzzi
Verónica Sandra
VS
Nascimento
André Luiz
AL
Rogério
Fábio
F
Muscará
Marcelo Nicolás
MN
Ferrari
Elenice Aparecida de Moraes
EA
Langone
Francesco
F
D000818:Animals; D015153:Blotting, Western; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000378:metabolism*; D002452:Cell Count; D016923:Cell Death; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D009043:Motor Activity; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D010862:Pilocarpine; D013037:Spatial Behavior; D013226:Status Epilepticus / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology
D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; D010862:Pilocarpine