The Effect of Forced Physical Exercise with Moderate Intensity on Alzheimer-Induced Amnesia in Adult Male Rats

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of forced physical exercise with moderate intensity on Alzheimer-induced amnesia in adult male rats. 48 male Wistar- Albino rats were randomly selected and assigned to 6 groups (n=8 per group): control, placebo (saline), drug-exercise, saline-exercise, exercise and exercise-drug. In this study, Dicyclomine (16 mg/kg) was used to induce Alzheimer-like amnesia and moderate exercise (60 minutes per day × 30 days). The rats were trained and tested using Morris water maze­. The findings showed that the group receiving Dicyclomine increased­ delay in reaching the platform­ in acquisition (P=0.044) and recall (P=0.031) compared with exercise, control and saline groups. But there were no significant differences between exercise and exercise-saline groups compared with exercise-Dicyclomine group. Also, a significant difference (delay in reaching the platform) was observed between Dicyclomine-exercise, saline-exercise compared with Dicyclomine in acquisition (P=0.005) and recall (P=0.002). In conclusion, this study showed that memory and learning in the acquisition and recall phases were destroyed by Dicyclomine and 30 sessions of moderate-intensity running (forced) could prevent memory corruption.

Keywords

• alzheimer’s disease
• cognitive functions
• forced exercise
• spatial learning rat