Dose regular exercise improve cognition or prevent onset of depression via enhancement of hippocampal angiogenesis?

• Project/Area Number: 21500637
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Sports science
• Research Institution: Nippon Medical School
• Principal Investigator: MIKAMI Toshio 日本医科大学, 医学部, 准教授 (60199966)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): OHTA Shigeo 日本医科大学, 大学院・医学研究科, 教授 (00125832)
• Project Period (FY): 2009 – 2011
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2011)
• Budget Amount: ¥4,420,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,020,000); Fiscal Year 2011: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000); Fiscal Year 2010: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000); Fiscal Year 2009: ¥1,690,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥390,000)
• Keywords: ストレス / 運動 / 神経新生 / 血管新生 / VEGF / BDNF

Research Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether physical exercise may prevent depressive behaviors via enhancement of angiogenesis in brain. Our studies revealed the following findings. (1) Exercise-induced enhancement of hippocampal neurogenesis was attributed to improvement of hippocampal angiogenesis via regular exercise. (2) Intense exercise-induced enhancement of hippocampal neurogenesis was closely related to activation of VEGF signaling cascade in hippocampus. (3) Exercise-induced prevention of depressive behaviors was attributed to the improvement of neurogenesis and angiogenesis in hippocampus. These findings suggested that regular exercise may be contributed to the prevention of depression via the activation of VEGF signaling cascade and the promotion of angiogenesis.

Research Products

• [Journal Article] Regular exercise cures depression-like behavior via VEGF-Flk-1 signaling in chronically stressed mice (2012)
  • Author(s): Kiuchi T, Lee H, Mikami T
  • Journal Title: Neuroscience Volume: 207 Pages: 208-217
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2012.01.023