Treadmill exercise improves memory function by inhibiting hippocampal apoptosis in pilocarpine-induced epileptic rats

Epilepsy is characterized by recurrent seizures and loss of neurons with abnormal rhythmic firing in the brains. In the present study, we investi-gated the effect of treadmill exercise on memory function in relation with cell proliferation and apoptosis in the hippocampus using pilocar-pine-induced seizure rats. Epilepsy was initiated by intraperitoneal in-jection of pilocarpine hydrochloride. The rats in the exercise group were forced to run on a motorized treadmill for 30 min once a day for 2 weeks. In the present results, treadmill exercise alleviated short-term and spatial learning memory impairments in the epileptic rats. Treadmill exercise suppressed neuronal degeneration and enhanced neuronal maturation in the epileptic rats. Treadmill exercise suppressed cell pro-liferation and apoptosis in the epileptic rats. Treadmill exercise alleviat-ed pilocarpine-induced memory impairments and suppressed neuronal loss in the hippocampus through down-regulation of apoptosis. These findings offer a possibility that treadmill exercise may provide a preven-tive or therapeutic value to the epilepsy-induced learning and memory impairments.