Alterations in the thickness of motor cortical subregions after motor-skill learning and exercise

Behavioral manipulations such as housing in an enriched environment have been shown to increase brain weight and visual cortical thickness. The present study was designed to test whether skill learning or repetitive movements can alter the thickness of the motor cortex. One group of 6-mo-old Long-Evans female rats learned motor skills on an obstacle course that increased in difficulty over training and required balance and coordination. A second group ran voluntarily in exercise wheels attached to their home cage but had little opportunity for skill learning. The third group was handled daily but received no opportunity for learning or exercise. Each condition lasted 26-29 d. The skill-learning and exercise conditions had greater heart weight, and the exercise condition had greater adrenal gland weights than controls. The thickness of the motor cortex was measured in four coronal planes between -2.33 mm to -0.3 mm from bregma. Regions of interest that corresponded to published maps of forelimb and hind-limb representations were analyzed together. Rats in the skill-learning condition had significantly thicker medial cortical areas in the two anterior planes (-0.8 and -0.3 mm from bregma). These regions correspond to previously mapped hind-limb representations. The exercise group had greater thickness of the medial region at -0.8 mm from bregma. Cortical thickness in all conditions varied significantly along the medial to lateral axis. For both treatments, the effects were restricted to medial and anterior regions of interest rather than posterior or lateral regions of interest. The results indicate that robust exercise, in addition to skill learning, is capable of altering the thickness of the motor cortex, but that the effects are restricted rather than distributed within the regions studied.