The effect of regular treadmill exercise on miR-10b and Brain-derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) expression in the hippocampus of female rats

The positive effects of exercise on brain function and increased expression of neuronal growth factors, including brain-derived neurotrophic factor or (BDNF), have been proven. To the further investigate the molecular mechanisms of these changes, As well as knowing that miR-10b is one of the BDNF expression regulators, the effect of exercise on the relative expression of miR-10b (microRNA-10) in female rats was evaluated. Since they have shown in previous studies, Exercise through the interaction with estrogen hormone increases the expression of BDNF, The effect of exercise on the expression of miR-10b in rats without ovarian was also measured. In this study, 42 female Wistar rats were selected and divided into two groups: intact and without ovarian. The rats without ovarian have spent ovariectomy surgery and were used in the experiments after a month. The exercise protocol was four weeks running on the treadmill. Real time PCR was used to determine the relative expression of miR-10b in the hippocampus of rats. The expression of miR-10b in the Sham-exercise group didn’t show any significant difference as compared to the control group in both intact and OVX rats. Compulsive exercise with treadmill did not make any significant changes in the expression of this gene in both types intact and OVX rats (P ˃0.05). But the BDNF expression of OVX rats was significantly increased (P ˂0.05). In fact, there was no correlation between miR-10b expression and exercise-induced BDNF expression changes. Conclusion: In fact, this study failed to prove the association of expression of miR-10b with the increase of BDNF expression which is the result of the interaction of exercise and estrogen hormone and this miRNA can’t be as a regulator of BDNF expression.