title: Treadmill exercise ameliorates symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder through reducing Purkinje cell loss and astrocytic reaction in spontaneous hypertensive rats.
abstract: Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurobehavioral disorder of cognition. We investigated the effects of treadmill exercise on Purkinje cell and astrocytic reaction in the cerebellum of the ADHD rat. Adult male spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKYR) weighing 210± 10 g were used. The animals were randomly divided into four groups (n= 15): control group, ADHD group, ADHD and methylphenidate (MPH)-treated group, ADHD and treadmill exercise group. The rats in the MPH-treated group as a positive control received 1 mg/kg MPH orally once a day for 28 consecutive days. The rats in the treadmill exercise group were made to run on a treadmill for 30 min once a day for 28 days. Motor coordination and balance were determined by vertical pole test. Immunohistochemistry for the expression of calbindinD-28 and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in the cerebellar vermis and Western blot for GFAP, Bax, and Bcl-2 were conducted. In the present results, ADHD significantly decreased balance and the number of calbindin-positive cells, while GFAP expression and Bax/Bcl-2 ratio in the cerebellum were significantly increased in the ADHD group compared to the control group (P< 0.05, respectively). In contrast, treadmill exercise and MPH alleviated the ADHD-induced the decrease of balance and the number of calbindine-positive cells, and the increase of GFAP expression and Bax/Bcl-2 ratio in the cerebellum (P< 0.05, respectively). Therefore, the present results suggested that treadmill exercise might exert ameliorating effect on ADHD through reduction of Purkinje cell loss and astrocytic reaction in the cerebellum.
authors.affiliation: Dague Veterans Hospital, Daegu, Korea.
authors.forename: Hyo-Soon
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Yun
authors.affiliation: Department of Health and Welfare for the Elderly, Graduate School, Daegu Haany University, Gyeongsan, Korea.
authors.forename: Mi-Sook
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Sport & Health Science, College of Natural Science, Sangmyung University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Eun-Sang
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Tae-Woon
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Il-Gyu
authors.initials: IG
authors.lastname: Ko
authors.affiliation: Department of Taekwondo, College of Physical Education, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Hyun-Bae
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Oriental Sports Medicine, College of Biomedical Science, Daegu Haany University, Gyeongsan, Korea.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kim
keywords: Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder; Cerebellum; Purkinje cell; Vertical pole test; treadmill exercise