Physical and cognitive training attenuate hippocampal ischemia-induced memory impairments in rat

The present study aimed to evaluate the preventive role of physical and cognitive training separately or in combination on memory dysfunction, inflammatory factors and apoptotic markers in the hippocampal-ischemia model of rat. The ischemia model was established by infusion of endothelin-1 (ET-1) into the animal's hippocampus using stereotaxic surgery. Physical, cognitive and combination training groups exposed to voluntary running wheel exercise or modified Barnes maze cognitive task or combination of this interventions for 4 weeks, respectively. Next, Morris water maze (MWM) and novel object recognition (NOR) tasks were used to assess recognition and spatial learning and memories. Western blotting was used to evaluate the protein levels of Nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), tumor necrosis factor-alpha receptor 1 (TNFR1), cytochrome c, Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax), B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2), and cleaved caspase-3 in the hippocampal tissue. Hippocampal ischemia significantly impaired recognition and spatial learning and memory with an increase of inflammatory and apoptotic proteins in the hippocampus tissue. Interventions in combination or separately significantly improved performance of ischemia-received animals in memory tasks. Furthermore, both physical and cognitive paradigms also reduced inflammatory and apoptotic factors in the hippocampus of ischemia-received rats. These findings indicate that physical and cognitive training separately or in combination attenuates the deleterious effect of ischemia on cognition through its anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic properties.