Effects of Treadmill Exercise on Hippocampal Synaptic Plasticity and Expression of Related Proteins in Aging Mice

ObjectiveTo explore the role and possible mechanism of cognitive function-related factors and BDNF/TrkB/PI3K signaling pathway in the treadmill exercise intervention with the decline of cognitive memory function in naturally aging mice.MethodsA total of 16 months old C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into the aged group and the exercise group, through a random number table method, with 8 mice in each group. And 6-month-old mice of the same strain were taken as the adult group (n=8). The exercise group performed a 6-week treadmill exercise, 1 hour each time, once a day, and 5 days a week, for 6 weeks. The baseline memory function was detected by Morris water maze test before intervention. The memory function of mice in each group after intervention was detected by Barnes maze test, T maze test and new object recognition test. Nissl staining was used to detect the morphology of hippocampal neurons, Golgi staining was used to detect the number of dendritic spines in the hippocampus. RT-PCR was used to detect the changes of cognitive function-related factors in the hippocampus of aged mice, and Western blot was used to detect the changes of BDNF/TrkB/PI3K signaling pathway related proteins in the hippocampus.ResultsThe escape latency time of Barnes maze in the aged group was significantly longer than that in the adult group (P