The effect of 4 weeks of aerobic exercise on cognitive function and mitochondrial dynamics in hippocampal tissue of male Wistar rats with Alzheimer's disease

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of 4 weeks of aerobic exercise on cognitive function and mitochondrial dynamics in the hippocampal tissue of male Wistar rats with Alzheimer's disease.

For this purpose, 21 male Wistar rats at 20 months of age were randomly divided into 3 groups: Alzheimer's disease (n = 7), Alzheimer's disease + aerobic exercise (n = 7) and control group (n = 7). Alzheimer's disease was induced by intrahippocampal injection of Aβ42 (1 microliter per side). Seven days after surgery, the exercise group performed 4 weeks of treadmill training (5 days per week at a speed of 10 to 15 m/min). Forty-eight hours after the last training session, the animals underwent behavioral tests. Twenty-four hours after the behavioral test, all rats were killed and hippocampal tissue was extracted. The mRNA expression of OPA1, Mfn2 and Drp1 genes was assayed using Real Time-PCR. One-way analysis of variance was used for statistical analysis. Ethical Considerations: All stages of the study were conducted according to the ethical guidelines and authorization of Research Deputy of Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch No. IR.IAU.TMU.REC.1399.124.

The results showed that spatial learning (P ≤ 0.001) and memory performance (P ≤ 0.001) as well as the gene expression of OPA1 (P ≤ 0.001) and Mfn2 (P ≤ 0.001) in animals with Alzheimer's disease decreased compared to the control group, while the gene expression of Drp1 increased (P ≤ 0.001). Aerobic exercise in patient animals improved spatial learning (P ≤ 0.001) and memory performance (P ≤ 0.001), increased hippocampal OPA1 (P ≤ 0.001) and Mfn2 (P ≤ 0.001) genes expression, and decreased Drp1 gene expression compared with Alzheimer's disease group (P ≤ 0.001).

In general, it seems that aerobic exercise can improve spatial learning and memory performance in Alzheimer's disease by modulating abnormal mitochondrial dynamics. کلیدواژه‌ها [English]