title: Maternal treadmill exercise during pregnancy decreases anxiety and increases prefrontal cortex VEGF and BDNF levels of rat pups in early and late periods of life.
abstract: In a previous study we demonstrated that, regular aerobic exercise during pregnancy decreased maternal deprivation induced anxiety. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the positive effects of maternal exercise on the male and female offspring's early and late period of life. Half of the test subjects in each group were evaluated when they were 26 days old, and the other half were evaluated when they were 4 months old. The anxiety levels of maternally exercised groups were less than the control groups in both sexes and in both prepubertal and adult periods. The locomotor activity more increased in females. The prefrontal VEGF and BDNF levels were greater for both age groups and sexes in the maternally exercised group compared to control group. Moreover, there was a strong positive correlations between prefrontal cortex BDNF levels and results of open field tests; and VEGF levels and results of elevated plus maze tests. There was no difference in serum corticosterone levels between groups. These results indicate that maternal exercise during pregnancy may protect the pups from anxiety in early and late periods of life, and affects the prefrontal cortex positively.
authors.affiliation: Dokuz Eylul University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Physiology, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ilkay
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Aksu
authors.forename: Basak
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Baykara
authors.forename: Seda
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ozbal
authors.forename: Ferihan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cetin
authors.forename: Ali Riza
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Sisman
authors.forename: Ayfer
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dayi
authors.forename: Celal
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gencoglu
authors.forename: Aysegul
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tas
authors.forename: Erkan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Büyük
authors.forename: Sevil
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gonenc-Arda
authors.forename: Nazan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Uysal
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001007:Anxiety / Q000378:metabolism; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers; D010805:Physical Conditioning, Animal / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000096:biosynthesis*
chemical_list: D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A