Exercise before pregnancy exerts protective effect on prenatal stress-induced impairment of memory, neurogenesis, and mitochondrial function in offspring

Stress during pregnancy has a negative effect on the fetus. However, maternal exercise has a positive effect on the cognitive function of the fetus and alleviates the negative effects of stress. This study aimed to demonstrate whether exercise before pregnancy has a protective ef-fect on prenatal stress-induced impairment of memory, neurogenesis and mitochondrial function in mice offspring. In this experiment, immu-nohistochemistry, Western blot, measurement of mitochondria oxygen respiration, and behavior tests were performed. Spatial memory and short-term memory of the offspring from the prenatal stress with exer-cise were increased compared to the offspring from the prenatal stress. The numbers of doublecortin-positive and 5-bromo-2’-deoxyuridine- positive cells in the hippocampal dentate gyrus of the offspring from the prenatal stress with exercise were higher compared to the offspring from the prenatal stress. The expressions of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, postsynaptic density 95 kDa, and synaptophysin in the hippo-campus of the offspring from the prenatal stress with exercise were enhanced compared to the offspring from the prenatal stress. Oxygen consumption of the offspring from the prenatal stress with exercise were higher compared to the offspring from the prenatal stress. Exer-cise before pregnancy alleviated prenatal stress-induced impairment of memory, neurogenesis, and mitochondrial function. Therefore, exercise before pregnancy may have a protective effect against prenatal stress of the offspring.