Effect of postnatal treadmill exercise on c-Fos expression in the hippocampus of rat pups born from the alcohol-intoxicated mothers.

Maternal alcohol-intoxication during pregnancy exerts detrimental effects on fetal development and is known to influence learning ability and memory capability by altering neuronal activity in the hippocampus. c-Fos expression represents neuronal activity and plays a crucial role in the brain development. Physical exercise is known to enhance neuronal plasticity and activity. In the present study, we investigated the influence of postnatal treadmill running on the c-Fos expression in the hippocampus of rat pups born from the alcohol-intoxicated mothers. The results obtained show that maternal alcohol-intoxication suppressed c-Fos expression in the hippocampus of rat pups and that postnatal treadmill exercise enhanced c-Fos expression in the hippocampus of these rat pups. The present study suggests that exercise should be considered as a therapeutic means of countering the effects of maternal alcohol-intoxication, and that it may provide a useful strategy for enhancing the neuronal activity of children born from the mothers who abuse alcohol during pregnancy.

Treadmill exercise suppresses nigrostriatal dopaminergic neuronal loss in 6-hydroxydopamine-induced Parkinson's rats.

In Parkinson's disease, the progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the pars compacta of the substantia nigra leads to debilitating motor dysfunction. In the present study, we investigated the effects of treadmill exercise on the dopaminergic neuronal cell death in the substantia nigra and on the dopaminergic fiber loss in the striatum of Parkinson's rats. Parkinson's rats were made by injecting 6-hydroxydopamine into the striatum with using a stereotaxic instrument. The rats in the exercise groups were put on the treadmill to run for 30 min once a day for 14 consecutive days after 6-hydroxydopamine administration into the striatum. Two weeks after the intrastriatal injection of 6-hydroxydopamine, the rats without treadmill exercise displayed rotational asymmetry following injection of apomorphine (0.5 mg/kg, s.c.). In contrast, the rats undergoing treadmill exercise showed a significant reduction of rotational asymmetry. Analysis via immunohistochemistry for the tyrosine hydroxylase expression revealed a substantial loss of cell bodies in the substantia nigra and their projected fibers in the striatum ipsilateral to the lesion following 6-hydroxydapamine injection into the striatum. However, treadmill running enhanced the survival of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra and also their fibers projecting into the striatum. The results of the present study show that treadmill exercise may provide therapeutic value for the treatment of Parkinson's disease patients.