The effect of regular exercise on cognitive function and irisin expression in rats

risin is a bridge between physical activity and cognitive performance. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of swimming in cold water for six weeks on irisin expression in brain tissue and cognitive function. 25 male Wistar rats were purchased from Pasteur Institute and transferred to the research center and randomly divided into three groups: swimming in water with normal temperature (28 degrees), swimming in cold water (15 degrees) and control group. Training rats swam 3 days a week for 6 weeks in the form of intervals. 48 hours after the last training session, rats were anesthetized and sacrificed through intraperitoneal injection of xylazine and ketamine and their brain tissue was taken. Then the ELISA method was used to measure the irisin gene. One-way ANOVA test was used to analyze the findings. The results showed that six weeks of swimming improved cognitive performance compared to the control group (p<0.01). Also, brain tissue irisin levels were significantly increased in two training groups compared to the control group (swimming group in water with normal temperature and swimming in cold water, respectively, p<0.05 and p<0.07). In addition, the irisin changes of the group swimming in cold water were significantly higher than the group swimming in normal temperature water (p<0.002). It seems that irisin can be a bridge between exercise activity and improving cognitive function. So that, exposure to cold can increase the effect of exercise activity on irisin and, as a result, cause further improvement in cognitive function.