title: The influence of exercise on morphological and neurochemical properties of neurons in rat nodose ganglia.
abstract: Physical exercise can induce immunohistochemical changes and cell proliferation in the hippocampus. One of the main effects of prolonged exercise is resting bradycardia, most probably caused by enhanced vagal activity. To investigate whether physical exercise can cause neurochemical and morphological changes in vagal afferent neurons, we performed immunohistochemical studies of nodose neurons using isolectin B4 (IB4), 200-kDa neurofilament protein (N52) and calretinin in adult female rats. To distinguish subpopulations of neurons projecting to the left ventricle, we applied a Fast Blue patch to the epicardial surface of the left ventricle. Treadmill running for 8 weeks significantly increased the size of N52-positive cardiac projecting neurons. Furthermore, the proportion of IB4-positive neurons among all nodose ganglia neurons was significantly higher in trained animals. These data indicate that exercise leads to plastic changes in nodose ganglia neurons that may initiate changes of vagal activity caused by prolonged exercise.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, University of Split, School of Medicine, Šoltanska 2, 21000 Split, Croatia. vanakosta@gmail.com
authors.forename: Vana
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Košta
authors.forename: Maja Marinović
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Guić
authors.forename: Jure
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Aljinović
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carić
authors.forename: Ivica
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Grković
mesh_terms: D000344:Afferent Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D000578:Amidines / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology; D064032:Calbindin 2; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D020547:Lateral Ventricles / Q000166:cytology; D037102:Lectins / Q000378:metabolism; D016900:Neurofilament Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D009620:Nodose Ganglion / Q000166:cytology*; D009929:Organ Size / Q000502:physiology; D010805:Physical Conditioning, Animal; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D064030:S100 Calcium Binding Protein G / Q000378:metabolism*; D014630:Vagus Nerve / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D000578:Amidines; C576512:Calb2 protein, rat; D064032:Calbindin 2; D037102:Lectins; D016900:Neurofilament Proteins; D064030:S100 Calcium Binding Protein G; C031455:diamidino compound 253-50; C051774:neurofilament protein H