Treadmill running improves long-term potentiation (LTP) defects in streptozotocin-induced diabetes at dentate gyrus in rats.
OBJECTIVE
It has been demonstrated that exercise has neuroprotective effects in the central nervous system (CNS), especially in hippocampus. Previous studies have indicated that diabetes mellitus affects synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus leading to impairments in learning and memory. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of treadmill running on synaptic plasticity at dentate gyrus (DG) of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.


METHODS
Experimental groups were the control, the diabetes and the diabetes-exercise groups. Long-term potentiation (LTP) in perforant path-DG synapses was assessed (by 400Hz tetanization) in order to investigate the effect of exercise on synaptic plasticity. Field excitatory post-synaptic potential (fEPSP) slope and population spike (PS) amplitude were measured.


RESULTS
With respect to the control group, fEPSP were significantly decreased in the diabetes group. However, there were no differences between responses of the diabetes-exercise group and the control.


CONCLUSIONS
The present results suggest that LTP induction in the dentate gyrus is affected under diabetic conditions and that treadmill running prevents these effects. The data suggest that treadmill running protect against diabetes-induced decrease of learning ability and memory function of the hippocampus.
Reisi
Parham
P
Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
Babri
Shirin
S
Alaei
Hojjatallah
H
Sharifi
Mohammad Reza
MR
Mohaddes
Gisue
G
Noorbakhsh
Seyed Mohammad
SM
Lashgari
Reza
R