The effect of the treadmill running on genes expression ofthePGC-1α, FNDC5 and BDNF in hippocampus of male rats

Previous studies have shown that brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plays a vital role to induce the beneficial effects of exercise on the brain, especially the hippocampus. However, signaling pathways related to increasing BDNF induced by forced exercise in hippocampus not well known. Therefore, the purpose of current study was to investigate the effect of 8-weeks of low-intensity forced treadmill training on genes expression of peroxisome proliferator activated receptor-gamma co-activator 1-alpha (PGC-1α), Fibronectin type III domain containing 5 (FNDC5) and BDNF in hippocampus of male rats.

Eighteen male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: Control (n=6), Sham (n=6) and Forced training (n=6). Animals in the training group performed 8 weeks of forced training (5 sessions per week) with low-intensity (speed: 15 m/min) on the treadmill. Twenty-four hours after last session of exercise, rats were decapitated and the hippocampus were carefully removed and rapidly frozen in liquid nitrogen, and finally stored at -80°C for further analysis. Real-Time-PCR method was used to measure the expression of genes in the hippocampus. Data were analyzed by one way ANOVA and Tukey post hoc test at the significant level of p