Effects of treadmill training during pregnancy on hippocampal dendritic spines and BDNF expression in offspring rats / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the effects of treadmill training during pregnancy on the development of dendritic spines and the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in hippocampal neurons of offspring rats.Methods:According to the random number table, the natural pregnant healthy SPF female rats were divided into control group (CON group) and treadmill training group (TE group), with 6 rats in each group. The pregnant rats in CON group were fed quietly, while those in TE group were given treadmill exercise intervention 60 minutes a day with 5 days a week for 3 weeks. The setting parameters of treadmill training the slope of electric flat plate was 0°, the track transmission speed was 8 m/min in the first 5 min, 10 m/min in the middle 25 min, and 12 m/min in the last 30 min.The body weight changes of pregnant rats in the two groups were recorded every two days from gestation of 0 day (G0). On day 21 of gestation (G21), the pregnant mice were placed in a quiet environment for labor. The expression of BDNF in hippocampus was detected by Western blot at 0, 7, 14 and 28 days after birth (P0, P7, P14, P28) respectively. The density of dendritic spines in hippocampus was detected by Golgi staining on P28. SPSS 19.0 software was used to analyze the data. Repeated measurement ANOVA was used to analyze the body weight of pregnant rats. t-test was used to analyze the data of neuronal dendritic spines. Results:Golgi staining showed that at P28, the density of dendritic spines in hippocampal CA1 area of TE group(11.330±0.558) was significantly higher than that of CON group (9.667±0.422), and the difference was statistically significant ( t=2.384, P<0.05). Compared with CON group, the relative expression level of BDNF protein in the hippocampus of offspring rats of TE group was significantly higher at P0 ((1.001±0.206), (2.027±0.240), t=3.244, P<0.05), P7 ((1.003±0.152), (2.077±0.172), t=4.669, P<0.05), P14 ((1.005±0.160), (1.562±0.178), t=3.329, P<0.05) and P28 ((1.004±0.196), (1.790±0.191), t=2.875, P<0.05), and the differences were statistically significant. Conclusion:Treadmill training during pregnancy can promote the development of dendritic spines in hippocampal neurons of offspring rats, which may be related to the promotion of BDNF expression in hippocampus.