Regular exercise prevents non-cognitive disturbances in a rat model of Alzheimer's disease.
Previously, we reported that in a rat model of sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD) generated by exogenous administration of Aβ₁₋₄₂ (250 pmol/d for 2 wk) via mini-osmotic pump, the animals exhibited learning and memory impairment, which could be attributed to the deleterious alterations in the levels of cognition-related signalling molecules. We showed that 4 wk of treadmill exercise totally prevented these impairments. Here, we evaluated the effect of exercise on non-cognitive function and basal synaptic transmission in the Cornu Ammonis 1 (CA1) area using the same AD model. Our results indicated that the anxiety behaviour of Aβ-treated rats was prevented by 4 wk of treadmill exercise. Exercised/Aβ-infused rats spent a longer time in the centre area of the open field (OF), elevated plus maze (EPM) paradigms and the light area of the light-dark (LD) box, which were similar to those of control and exercise rats. Furthermore, under basal conditions the aberrant up-regulation of calcineurin (PP2B) and reduction of phosphorylated Ca²⁺/calmodulin dependent protein kinase II (p-CaMKII) levels induced by AD-like pathology were normalised by the exercise regimen. We conclude that regular exercise may exert beneficial effects on both cognitive and non-cognitive functions in this AD model.
University of Houston, College of Pharmacy, Houston, TX, USA.
An T
AT
Dao
University of Houston, College of Pharmacy, Houston, TX, USA.
Munder A
MA
Zagaar
University of Houston, College of Pharmacy, Houston, TX, USA.
Samina
S
Salim
University of Houston, College of Pharmacy, Houston, TX, USA.
Jason L
JL
Eriksen
University of Houston, College of Pharmacy, Houston, TX, USA.
Karim A
KA
Alkadhi
D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000378:metabolism / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000378:metabolism / Q000517:prevention & control; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D056547:CA1 Region, Hippocampal / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D019703:Calcineurin / Q000378:metabolism; D054732:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase Type 2 / Q000378:metabolism; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D010805:Physical Conditioning, Animal / Q000379:methods; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000502:physiology
D054732:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase Type 2; D019703:Calcineurin