Forced mild physical training-induced effects on cognitive and locomotory behavior in old mice.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the effect of mild forced physical training on cognitive and locomotory behavior in old (26 mo.) mice. DESIGN: Randomized, controlled study. SETTING: Open-field in the behavioral laboratory. PARTICIPANTS: Sixteen old sedentary male mice randomly assigned to one of two groups, exercise (E) or rest (R). INTERVENTION: group E underwent treadmill running for one month at moderate intensity (belt speed=8 m/min, 45 min, five days a week), group R was only allowed spontaneous locomotor activity. MEASUREMENTS: exploratory and locomotor behavior were evaluated in an enriched environment (Ethovision recording). RESULTS: motor patterns were significantly reduced (chi2 test, p<0.05) in the E vs R group after one month of training; exploratory patterns were not different, both groups showing modest exploratory activity. CONCLUSIONS: mild forced physical training initiated at old age may have detrimental effect on motor behavior in male mice without improving cognitive parameters.