Abstract

In the present study, we investigated the influence of postnatal treadmill running on the cell proliferation and spatial learning ability of rat pups born from the chronic alcohol-intoxicated maternal rats. Male Sprague–Dawley rats (n=25) and female Sprague–Dawley rats (n=25) were mated for 1 day. After confirming of pregnancy, 1 g/kg alcohol or saline was injected to the pregnant rats once daily from the 15th day of pregnancy to 1 day before delivery. After delivery, offspring were assigned into one of the three groups: the control group, the maternal alcohol-treated group, and the maternal alcohol-treated and exercise group. The young rats born from the alcohol-treated dams were randomly assigned into the two groups: the maternal alcohol-treated group (n=18) and the maternal alcohol-treated and exercise group (n=20). Starting from the 21 days after birth, the rat pups in the exercise group were made to run on a motorized treadmill for 30 min once a day for 7 consecutive days. Our results demonstrated that prenatal alcohol exposure significantly decreased cell proliferation in the hippocampal dentate gyrus and disturbed spatial memory capability of the rat pups. Postnatal treadmill exercise significantly increased cell proliferation in the dentate gyrus and improved the spatial memory capability of the rat pups. Here in this study, we showed that treadmill exercise could overcome reducing of the chronic prenatal alcohol exposure-induced cell proliferation, and thus facilitated the recovery of spatial learning memory impairment induced by prenatal alcohol exposure. (Korean J Str Res 2009;17:45∼52)

• Keywords: Fetal alcohol syndrome, Treadmill exercise, Cell proliferation, Spatial learning memory, Hippocampal dentate gyrus