title: Epilepsy and exercise: An experimental study in female rats.
abstract: Epilepsy is the most common neurological chronic condition worldwide, affecting about 2% of world population. Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) reaches 40% of all cases of this condition, and it is highly refractory to pharmacological treatment. Physical activity has been suggested as complementary therapy for epilepsy. However, there is no consistent information whether all these effects are plenty applicable to females, since clinical and experimental studies concerning physical exercise and epilepsy are largely performed in males. Females are worthy of special attention due to gender specific particularities such as hormonal cyclical rhythm and possible pregnancy. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the impact of two types of exercise programs (Forced and Voluntary) in female Wistar rats submitted to temporal lobe epilepsy induced by pilocarpine.
  
  
  
  Animals were divided into four groups: Control (healthy), Epilepsy, Epilepsy/Forced (exercise in a treadmill) and Epilepsy/Voluntary (free access to wheel). Behavioral and histological analyses were evaluated among groups.
  
  
  
  Voluntary exercise was able to reduce seizure frequency and anovulatory estrous cycle occurrence. Yet, both types of exercise attenuated the mossy fiber sprouting in dentate gyrus.
  
  
  
  Our results indicate that voluntary exercise exerts a positive effect on epilepsy in female gender. Further investigations are necessary to better elucidate mechanisms involved in these responses, since these effects do not act in the same manner in male and female rats.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Fisiologia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Diego
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vannucci Campos
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: Departamento de Farmacologia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Daiana Aparecida
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: 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 Neurologia e Neurocirurgia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Debora
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Amado
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Fisiologia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo, SP, Brazil. Electronic address: arida.nexp@epm.br.
authors.forename: Ricardo Mario
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Arida
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004833:Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D030762:Estrous Cycle; D005260:Female; D008124:Locomotion; D019599:Mossy Fibers, Hippocampal / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D018721:Muscarinic Agonists / Q000633:toxicity; D010805:Physical Conditioning, Animal / Q000379:methods*; D010862:Pilocarpine / Q000633:toxicity; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D018721:Muscarinic Agonists; D010862:Pilocarpine
keywords: Epilepsy; Estrous cycle; Exercise; Female; Hormones; Rats