title: Early exercise improves cerebral blood flow through increased angiogenesis in experimental stroke rat model.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Early exercise after stroke promoted angiogenesis and increased microvessles density. However, whether these newly formatted vessels indeed give rise to functional vascular and improve the cerebral blood flow (CBF) in impaired brain region is still unclear. The present study aimed to determine the effect of early exercise on angiogenesis and CBF in ischemic region.
  
  
  METHODS
  Adult male Sprague Dawley rats were subjected to 90 min middle cerebral artery occlusion(MCAO)and randomly divided into early exercise and non-exercised control group 24 h later. Two weeks later, CBF in ischemic region was determined by laser speckle flowmetry(LSF). Meantime, micro vessels density, the expression of tie-2, total Akt and phosphorylated Akt (p-Akt), and infarct volume were detected with immunohistochemistry, 2,3,5 triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) staining and western blotting respectively. The function was evaluated by seven point's method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our results showed that CBF, vessel density and expression of Tie-2, p-Akt in ischemic region were higher in early exercise group compared with those in non-exercise group. Consistent with these results, rats in early exercise group had a significantly reduced infarct volume and better functional outcomes than those in non-exercise group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results indicated that early exercise after MCAO improved the CBF in ischemic region, reduced infarct volume and promoted the functional outcomes, the underlying mechanism was correlated with angiogenesis in the ischemic cortex.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation of Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Pengyue
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Huixian
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Naiyun
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Yuling
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yulong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Shan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Junfa
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Yongshan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hu
mesh_terms: D042682:Angiopoietins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D000818:Animals; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology*; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D020244:Infarction, Middle Cerebral Artery / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D017078:Laser-Doppler Flowmetry; D008297:Male; D018919:Neovascularization, Physiologic / Q000502:physiology*; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D010805:Physical Conditioning, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D020521:Stroke / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D042682:Angiopoietins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins