title: Maternal Exercise during Pregnancy Increases BDNF Levels and Cell Numbers in the Hippocampal Formation but Not in the Cerebral Cortex of Adult Rat Offspring.
abstract: Clinical evidence has shown that physical exercise during pregnancy may alter brain development and improve cognitive function of offspring. However, the mechanisms through which maternal exercise might promote such effects are not well understood. The present study examined levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and absolute cell numbers in the hippocampal formation and cerebral cortex of rat pups born from mothers exercised during pregnancy. Additionally, we evaluated the cognitive abilities of adult offspring in different behavioral paradigms (exploratory activity and habituation in open field tests, spatial memory in a water maze test, and aversive memory in a step-down inhibitory avoidance task). Results showed that maternal exercise during pregnancy increased BDNF levels and absolute numbers of neuronal and non-neuronal cells in the hippocampal formation of offspring. No differences in BDNF levels or cell numbers were detected in the cerebral cortex. It was also observed that offspring from exercised mothers exhibited better cognitive performance in nonassociative (habituation) and associative (spatial learning) mnemonic tasks than did offspring from sedentary mothers. Our findings indicate that maternal exercise during pregnancy enhances offspring cognitive function (habituation behavior and spatial learning) and increases BDNF levels and cell numbers in the hippocampal formation of offspring.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Fisiologia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo-SP, Brazil.|Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, São Paulo-SP, Brazil.|Universidade de Mogi das Cruzes (UMC), Mogi das Cruzes-SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Sérgio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gomes da Silva
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Fisiologia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo-SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Alexandre Aparecido
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: de Almeida
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Fisiologia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo-SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Jansen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fernandes
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Fisiologia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo-SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Glauber Menezes
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Lopim
authors.affiliation: Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, São Paulo-SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Francisco Romero
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Cabral
authors.affiliation: Disciplina de Neurologia Experimental, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo-SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Débora Amado
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Scerni
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro-RJ, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ana Virgínia
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: de Oliveira-Pinto
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro-RJ, Brazil.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lent
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Fisiologia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo-SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ricardo Mario
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Arida
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000378:metabolism*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D010805:Physical Conditioning, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
chemical_list: D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; C579455:BDNF protein, human