Effects of exercise during pregnancy on brain development and learning and emotional behavior in adult offspring and its mechanism

2011 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21591416
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Embryonic/Neonatal medicine
• Research Institution: Yamaguchi University
• Principal Investigator: NAKAMURA Shoji 山口大学, 大学院・医学系研究科, 教授 (80112051)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): ISHIKAWA Junko 山口大学, 大学院・医学系研究科, 助教 (30570808) ; ISHIKAWA Akinori 山口大学, 大学院・医学系研究科, 准教授 (40363098)
• Project Period (FY): 2009 – 2011
• Keywords: 妊娠 / 運動 / ストレス / 学習 / 情動 / 海馬

Research Abstract

Effects of exercise during pregnancy on learning and emotional behavior in adult offspring were examined. Pregnant rats were allowed to perform spontaneous running in wheel cage during pregnancy. Learning and emotional behaviors were assessed at 7 to 15 weeks after birth. In addition, using DNA microarray analysis technique, genes affected by exercise during pregnancy were examined. Adult offspring whose dams performed spontaneous running during pregnancy showed increased depression-lile behavior and reduced levels of learning performance. DNA microarray analysis showed that exercise during pregnancy induced a large decrease in brain-derived neurotrophic factor(BDNF) in the hippocampus of adult offspring. These results suggest that spontaneous running during pregnancy causes impairment of learning and emotional behavior, possibly due to reduction in BDNF expression in the hippocampus.

Research Products

• [Journal Article] The effects of three types of stress on Fos expression in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus, hippocampus and amygdala in female rats at different stages of pregnancy (2011)
  • Author(s): M. Tanaka, S. Hayashi, T. Fujioka, I. Tobe, S. Nakamura
  • Journal Title: Bull Yamaguchi Med Sch Volume: 58(3-4) Pages: 19-30
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Exposure to 1-bromopropane causes degeneration of noradrenergic axons in the rat brain (2011)
  • Author(s): SS. Mohideen, G. Ichihara, S. Ichihara, S. Nakamura
  • Journal Title: Toxicology Volume: 285(1-2) Pages: 67-71
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Gene expression profiling in progressively MPTP-lesioned macaques reveals molecular pathways associated with sporadic Parkinson' s disease (2010)
  • Author(s): T. Ohnuki, A. Nakamura, S. Okuyama, S. Nakamura
  • Journal Title: Brain Res Volume: 1346 Pages: 26-42
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Proteomic analysis of proteins expressing in regions of rat brain by a combination of SDS-PAGE with nano-liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time of flight tandem mass spectrometry (2010)
  • Author(s): T. Katagiri, N. Hatano, M. Aihara, H. Kawano, M. Okamoto, Y. Liu, T. Izumi, T. Maekawa, S. Nakamura, T. Ishihara, M. Shirai, Y. Mizukami
  • Journal Title: Proteome Science Volume: 8 Pages: 41-52
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Effects of postnatal isolation rearing and antidepressant treatment on the density of serotonergic and noradrenergic axons and depressive behavior in rats (2009)
  • Author(s): M. Kuramochi, S. Nakamura
  • Journal Title: Neuroscience Volume: 163 Pages: 448-455
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Presentation] 内側前頭前皮質と扁桃体からなるループ神経回路の電気生理学的解析 (2010)
  • Author(s): 石川晃教
  • Organizer: Neuro2010
  • Place of Presentation: 神戸コンベンションセンター
  • Year and Date: 2010-09-02