Delayed voluntary exercise does not enhance cognitive performance after hippocampal injury: an investigation of differentially distributed exercise protocols.
Voluntary exercise has previously been shown to enhance cognitive recovery after acquired brain injury (ABI). The present study evaluated effects of two differentially distributed protocols of delayed, voluntary exercise on cognitive recovery using an allocentric place learning task in an 8-arm radial maze. Fifty-four Wistar rats were subjected to either bilateral transection of the fimbria-fornix (FF) or to sham surgery. Twenty-one days postinjury, the animals started exercising in running wheels either for 14 consecutive days (FF/exercise daily [ExD], sham/ExD) or every other day for 14 days (FF/exercise every second day [ExS], sham/ExS). Additional groups were given no exercise treatment (FF/not exercise [NE], sham/NE). Regardless of how exercise was distributed, we found no cognitively enhancing effects of exercise in the brain injured animals. Design and protocol factors possibly affecting the efficacy of post-ABI exercise are discussed.
The Unit for Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Elise
E
Wogensen
The Unit for Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Marie Gajhede
MG
Gram
Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Jens Bak
JB
Sommer
The Unit for Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Christina Rytter
CR
Vilsen
The Unit for Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Jesper
J
Mogensen
The Unit for Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Hana
H
Malá
Animal model; Brain injury; Cognitive recovery; Hippocampus; Spatial learning; Voluntary exercise