ABSTRACT
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a type of brain dysfunction featuring a gradual loss in memory. This study aimed to determine the effect of 4 weeks of aerobic rehabilitation exercise (RhExe) on the genes expression of BDNF and TGF-ß1 in the hippocampus tissue of rats with the AD induced by injection of amyloid-beta (Aß1-42). Twenty-one male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: Aß injection (n = 7), Aß + exercise (n = 7) and control (n = 7). AD was induced by a single dose of Aß injection into the hippocampus of rats. Three days after surgery, the Aß + exercise group experienced four weeks of the RhExe (5 days/week). Forty-eight hours after the last training session, the animals underwent the Morris water maze test. The animals were sacrificed 24 h after the test, and hippocampal tissue was split. The mRNA expression of BDNF, TGF-ß1, and TGF-ß1 II receptors was measured. The TGF-ß1 and TGF-ß1 II receptor genes expression of Aß + exercise group were significantly higher than the Aß injection group (P ≤ 0.001). BDNF gene expression in the hippocampus of the Aß + exercise group was significantly higher than the Aß injection group (P ≤ 0.001). Spatial memory was significantly higher in the Aß + exercise group than in the Aß injection group (p ≤ 0.01). It seems that aerobic exercise can counteract the harmful effects of Aß through the BDNF and TGF-ß1molecular signaling pathways.
