title: Strength and Aerobic Exercises Improve Spatial Memory in Aging Rats Through Stimulating Distinct Neuroplasticity Mechanisms.
abstract: Aging is associated with impaired cognition and memory and increased susceptibility to neurodegenerative disorders. Physical exercise is neuroprotective; however, the major evidence of this effect involves studies of only aerobic training in young animals. The benefits of other exercise protocols such as strength training in aged animals remains unknown. Here, we investigated the effect of aerobic and strength training on spatial memory and hippocampal plasticity in aging rats. Aging Wistar rats performed aerobic or strength training for 50 min 3 to 4 days/week for 8 weeks. Spatial memory and neurotrophic and glutamatergic signaling in the hippocampus of aged rats were evaluated after aerobic or strength training. Both aerobic and strength training improved cognition during the performance of a spatial memory task. Remarkably, the improvement in spatial memory was accompanied by an increase in synaptic plasticity proteins within the hippocampus after exercise training, with some differences in the intracellular functions of those proteins between the two exercise protocols. Moreover, neurotrophic signaling (CREB, BDNF, and the P75NTRreceptor) increased after training for both exercise protocols, and aerobic exercise specifically increased glutamatergic proteins (NMDA receptor and PSD-95). We also observed a decrease in DNA damage after aerobic training. In contrast, strength training increased levels of PKCα and the proinflammatory factors TNF-α and IL-1β. Overall, our results show that both aerobic and strength training improved spatial memory in aging rats through inducing distinct molecular mechanisms of neuroplasticity. Our findings extend the idea that exercise protocols can be used to improve cognition during aging.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Biology Graduate Programme of Health Sciences, Health Sciences Unit, University of Southern Santa Catarina, UNESC, 1105, Universitária Rd, Criciúma, SC, 88806000, Brazil.
authors.forename: Thais Ceresér
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Vilela
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Exercise Biochemistry and Physiology, Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense-UNESC, 1105, Universitária Rd, Criciúma, SC, 88806000, Brazil. alexandrep.muller@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Alexandre Pastoris
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Muller
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Biology Graduate Programme of Health Sciences, Health Sciences Unit, University of Southern Santa Catarina, UNESC, 1105, Universitária Rd, Criciúma, SC, 88806000, Brazil.
authors.forename: Adriani Paganini
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Damiani
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Biology Graduate Programme of Health Sciences, Health Sciences Unit, University of Southern Santa Catarina, UNESC, 1105, Universitária Rd, Criciúma, SC, 88806000, Brazil.
authors.forename: Tamires Pavei
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Macan
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Exercise Biochemistry and Physiology, Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense-UNESC, 1105, Universitária Rd, Criciúma, SC, 88806000, Brazil.
authors.forename: Sabrina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: da Silva
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Exercise Biochemistry and Physiology, Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense-UNESC, 1105, Universitária Rd, Criciúma, SC, 88806000, Brazil.
authors.forename: Paula Bortoluzzi
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Canteiro
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Exercise Biochemistry and Physiology, Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense-UNESC, 1105, Universitária Rd, Criciúma, SC, 88806000, Brazil.
authors.forename: Alisson
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: de Sena Casagrande
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Exercise Biochemistry and Physiology, Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense-UNESC, 1105, Universitária Rd, Criciúma, SC, 88806000, Brazil.
authors.forename: Giulia Dos Santos
authors.initials: GDS
authors.lastname: Pedroso
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Exercise Biochemistry and Physiology, Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense-UNESC, 1105, Universitária Rd, Criciúma, SC, 88806000, Brazil.
authors.forename: Renata Tiscoski
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Nesi
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Biology Graduate Programme of Health Sciences, Health Sciences Unit, University of Southern Santa Catarina, UNESC, 1105, Universitária Rd, Criciúma, SC, 88806000, Brazil. vma@unesc.net.
authors.forename: Vanessa Moraes
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: de Andrade
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Exercise Biochemistry and Physiology, Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense-UNESC, 1105, Universitária Rd, Criciúma, SC, 88806000, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ricardo Aurino
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: de Pinho
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000378:metabolism; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D010805:Physical Conditioning, Animal / Q000379:methods; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D055070:Resistance Training / Q000379:methods; D065852:Spatial Memory / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor
keywords: Aerobic exercise; Aging; Memory; Strength exercise