Physical training in developing rats does not influence the kindling development in the adult life

The positive effect of physical exercise programs on seizure frequency and severity has been demonstrated both in adult human and animals. However, this investigation during animal brain development has not been examined. To this purpose, the present work was aimed to analyse the effect of physical exercise training in rats after weaning on the kindling process in the adulthood. Thirty rats were divided into 3 groups: the first group (EX = 10) was submitted to daily bout of aerobic exercise (60 min running on the treadmill at 24/26 m/min) between P21 and 60 days of age. After this period of training, animals were submitted to 60 min running at the same speed and kindling stimulated one min post-exercise. The second group (SHAM = 10) was maintained in the treadmill for the same time as the trained group without being submitted to physical exercise. The third group served as control (CTL = 10). The number of stimulations required to reach stage 5 for the EX group was not statistically different from CTL and SHAM groups. However, the EX group spent a longer time and a shorter afterdischarge (AD) in stage 1 compared to the CTL and SHAM groups. The number of stimulations and AD duration in stage 2, 3 and 4 was not statistically different between all the groups. Taken together, our study showed that although forced physical exercise in developing rats does not exert significant influence to reach the stage 5 of amygdala kindling in the adult life its interference during the process of epileptogenesis indicate a positive effect of exercise in developing brain.