Treadmill running improves spatial memory in an animal model of Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that is characterized by a decline in cognitive function and severe neuronal loss in the cerebral cortex and certain subcortical regions of the brain including nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM) that play an important role in learning and memory. There are few therapeutic regimens that influence the underlying pathogenic phenotypes of AD, however, of the currently available therapies, exercise training is considered to be one of the best strategies for attenuating the pathological phenotypes of AD for people with AD. Here, we sought to investigate the effect of treadmill running on spatial memory in Alzheimer-induced rats. Male Wistar rats were split into two groups namely shams (n = 7) and lesions with the lesion group subdivided further into the lesion-rest (n = 7) and lesion-exercise (n = 7). The lesion-exercise and shams were subjected to treadmill running at 17 meters per minute (m/min) for 60 min per day (min/day), 7 days per week (days/wk), for 60 days. Spatial memory was investigated using the Morris Water Maze test in the rats after 60 days of Alzheimer induction and the exercise. Our data demonstrated that spatial memory was indeed impaired in the lesion group compared with the shams. However, exercise notably improved spatial memory in the lesion-exercised rats compared to lesion-rested group. The present results suggest that spatial memory is affected under Alzheimer conditions and that treadmill running improves these effects. Our data suggested that treadmill running contributes to the alleviation of the cognitive decline in AD.

Research highlights▶ NBM lesion impairs spatial memory. ▶ Treadmill running improves spatial memory performance. ▶ Exercise may offer protection against neurodegenerative damage.