Increased astrocyte proliferation in rats after running exercise

Abstract The aim in this study was to investigate whether physical exercise could induce astroglial proliferation in the frontoparietal cortex and dorsolateral striatum where extensive angiogenesis had been found after exercise in previous studies. Adult male Sprague Dawley rats ( n  = 48) were used in four experimental groups. Animals were exercised 30 min each day on a treadmill on which repetitive locomotor movement was required, for 0 ( n  = 12), 3 ( n  = 12) or 6 ( n  = 12) weeks, as well as 3-week exercise plus 3-week rest ( n  = 12). Brain tissues of the exercised and non-exercised rats were processed for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) immunocytochemistry ( n  = 6 × 4) and Western blotting ( n  = 6 × 4) to evaluate regional astrocyte proliferation in the frontoparietal cortex and dorsolateral striatum. By using GFAP immunocytochemistry and stereological methods, we compared the density of astrocytes in the animals with or without exercise. In comparison to non-exercised animals, a significant ( p p p