Early exercise induces long-lasting morphological changes in cortical and hippocampal neurons throughout of a sedentary period of rats.

ABSTRACT: Life experiences at early ages, such as physical activity in childhood and adolescence, can result in long-lasting brain effects able to reduce future risk of brain disorders and to enhance lifelong brain functions. However, how early physical exercise promotes these effects remains unclear. A possible hypothesis is that physical exercise increases the expression of neurotrophic factors and stimulates neuronal growth, resulting in a neural reserve to be used at later ages. Basing our study on this hypothesis, we evaluated the absolute number and morphology of neuronal cells, as well as the expression of growth, proliferation and survival proteins (BDNF, Akt, mTOR, p70S6K, ERK and CREB) in the cerebral cortex and hippocampal formation throughout of a sedentary period of rats who were physic

SUBMITTER: Serra FT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6757043 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature