Effect of exercise on neurogenic inflammation in spinal cord of Type 1 diabetic rats

• Exercise reduces expression of proinflammatory cytokines and activation of macrophages in the spinal cord of diabetic rats.
• Moderate exercise induces expression of IL-10 and improves sensory nerve function of Type 1 diabetic rats.
• Moderate exercise alters expression of CGRP in the dorsal horn of Type 1 diabetic rats.

Neuropathy is a long-standing and hard to treat complication of diabetes that interferes almost 25–30% of diabetic patients and impacts the quality of life of the patients. Unforeseen side effects, dependency and addiction made the existing medical treatments comparatively ineffective. A number of studies indicate that moderate physical activity provides health-related advantages. However, existing data do not confirm whether regular physical activity would reduce the amount of inflammation in the nervous system of the subjects with Type 1 diabetes. This study reveals the significance of exercise to alleviate inflammation in the spinal cord of the nervous system and preserve sensory nerve function in animals with Type 1 diabetes after 6 weeks of exercise paradigm. Streptozotocin-diabetic animals were placed in motorized running wheels for sixty minutes per day, for five days a week for 6 weeks starting at one week after diabetes. Emerging evidence suggests that the increases in inflammatory mediators play an important role in the development of sensory neuropathy. This study shows that moderate exercise can reduce the release of a number of proinflammatory cytokines in the dorsal horn (DH) of spinal cord, subsequently delaying the development of neuropathy along with an increase in the anti-inflammatory mediator IL10 in the DH. In general, this study indicates that exercise may provide an alternative to the treatment for sensory neuropathy in Type 1 diabetic subjects via reducing the use of medication and providing an easier way to manage neuropathy.