Pre-ischemic exercise alleviates oxidative damage following ischemic stroke in rats

Physical exercise has been proved to be neuroprotective in clinical trials and animal experiments. However, the exact mechanism underlying this neuroprotective effect remains unclear. The aim of the present study was to explore whether pre-ischemic treadmill training could act as a form of ischemic preconditioning in a rat following ischemic stroke by reducing oxidative damage. Fifty-four rats were randomly divided into three groups (n=18 per group): Sham surgery, middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) without exercise and MCAO with exercise. Subsequent to treadmill training, ischemic stroke was induced by occluding the MCA for 1.5 h, followed by reperfusion. Six rats in each group were evaluated for neurological deficits and then sacrificed by decapitation to calculate the infarct volume. The remaining rats in each group were sacrificed to detect the level of superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity (n=6) and malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration (n=6). The results indicated that pre-ischemic exercise training reduced brain infarct volume and neurological deficits, increased SOD activity and decreased the concentration of MDA following ischemic stroke. In conclusion, treadmill exercise training prior to MCAO/reperfusion increased the antioxidant ability and decreased the oxidative damage in the brain subsequent to ischemic stroke.