Effect of Endurance Exercise and Methamphetamine Administration on the Expression of Blood-Brain Barrier Related Factors and BDNF in Hippocampus of Male Sprague-Dawley Rat

Abstract

PURPOSE This study aimed to investigate the effect of short-term endurance exercise and methamphetamine administration on bloodbrain barrier (BBB)-related marker and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the hippocampus of male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. METHODS Forty male SD-rats were randomly assigned to 4 groups and treated for 2 weeks. For the methamphetamine group, 1 mg/ kg (+)-S-Methamphetamine hydrochloride (METH) was intraperitoneally injected daily, and an endurance exercise was performed at 21 m/min for 60 minutes. All treatments were performed daily, and METH or saline was administered after exercise. After 2 weeks of treatment, the head was decapitated under anesthesia, and the hippocampus was separated for western blotting. RESULTS Two weeks of endurance exercise significantly increased the expression of occludin and claudin-5 in the hippocampus of the rats. Similarly, phosphorylation of CREB/BDNF and AKT/GSK3 signaling pathways were significantly increased. This phenomenon was also observed in the exercise and METH co-treatment groups. However, the single treatment of 1 mg/kg METH did not affect tight junction protein and BDNF expression. CONCLUSIONS Endurance exercise increased the expression of BBB-related proteins and neurogenesis-related molecules, which were not inhibited by METH administration.

Keywords

• endurance exercise
• methamphetamine
• bbb
• bdnf
• hippocampus