Effect of 4 weeks aerobic training on Trk-B, PKC and AKT in hippocampus of male rats with Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer's disease is a progressive disorder of the nervous system. Aβ-induced degradation reactions in the CNS result in neurotrophic factor abnormalities, which may in turn facilitate the development of amyloid pathology. The effects of exercise on these factors have been taken into account, however, an understanding of how it works needs further investigation. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of aerobic training on Trk-B, PKC and AKT in hippocampus of male rats with Alzheimer’s Disease. In this experimental study, 36 adult male rats (8 weeks) with an average weight of 195 ± 20 g were randomly divided into 3 groups: Alzheimer's Disease (AD), Alzheimer's Disease + exercise training (ADT), and control (C). The induction of Alzheimer's disease was induced by intrahippocampal injection of Aβ1-42. Aerobic exercise was performed for 4 weeks, 5 sessions per week. 24 hours after the last training session, animals were either subjected to behavioral testing or killed, and their hippocampus was extracted for further experiments. One-way ANOVA was used to analyze the data. The results showed that the ADT rats spend significantly more time in the target quadrant compared to the AD group in the probe test (p ≤ 0.05). Also, Trk-B, PKC and AKT levels decrease following injection of Aβ1-42 (p <0.001). Aerobic exercise increased Trk-B, PKC and AKT levels compared to AD rats (p≤0.05). Therefore, aerobic exercise seems to help improve the spatial memory by activating the TrkB- PKC-AKT signaling pathway.