Low-intensity exercise improves neuroplasticity and spatial memory on young adult of male wistar rats

Kartinah NT, Faizah A, Ayu AD, Tahyatu B. Low-Intensity Exercise Improves Neuroplasticity and Spatial Memory on Young Adult of Male Wistar Rats. JEPonline 2018;21(5):19-28. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of low-intensity exercise on neuroplasticity and memory performance in young Wistar adult rats. Neuroplasticity was determined by altering the expression of proteins such as synaptophysin, neuroligin-1, AMPAR, NMDAR, and PSD-95 in the rat hippocampus. Six-month-old rats were randomly divided into Sedentary (Sed) and Exercise (Ex) Groups. Exercise rats had better spatial memory compared to sedentary rats. This result was shown by a reduction in both the time travelled and the total error in the Water-E Maze task (P<0.05). Immunohistochemistry staining showed that exercise rats had higher optical density scores of both pre-and postsynaptic proteins compared to sedentary rats (P<0.05). In conclusion, the findings indicate that the low-intensity exercise improves spatial learning and memory, as shown by increased neuroplasticity and synaptic maturation in young Wistar adult rats.