*경희대학교 의과대학 생리학교실, †한남대학교 이과대학 생활체육학과
*Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, †Department of Sports Science, College of Nature Sciences, Han Nam University, Daejeon, Korea
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) induces many neuropsychiatric disorders, and memory loss is the most frequent symptom of TBI. In the present study, we investigated the effects of treadmill exercise on the short-term memory in relation with cell proliferation in the hippocampus following TBI in rats. The animals were randomly divided into four groups (N=10 in each group): sham-operation group, sham-operation and treadmill exercise group, TBI-induction group, and TBI-induction and treadmill exercise group. TBI was induced by an electromagnetic-controlled cortical impact. The animals in the treadmill exercise group were forced to run on the treadmill machine for 30 min once daily, for ten consecutive days. Induction of TBI deteriorated short-term memory and inhibited cell proliferation with suppressing brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression in the hippocampus. Treadmill exercise alleviated TBI-induced short-term memory impairment and also increased cell proliferation with enhancing BDNF expression in the hippocampus. The present results revealed that treadmill exercise overcame the TBI-induced memory impairment through enhancing cell proliferation in the hippocampus. Herein, we suggest that treadmill exercise may be used as the useful strategy for the functional recovery following traumatic brain damage. (Korean J Str Res 2013;21: 0∼149)