J Korean Acad Rehabil Med.  2008 Dec;32(6):632-636.

Induction of Striatal Neurogenesis by Voluntary Exercise and Environmental Enrichment

• Min KH
• Im SH
• Bae BW
• Kim ES
• Park ES
• Park CI
• Cho SR

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
To investigate that neurogenesis in the subventricular zone (SVZ), which is already known as neurogenic area where neural stem/progenitor cells persist, and the striatum, which is non-neurogenic area, might be induced by voluntary exercise (VEx) or environmental enrichment (EE), and compare the extent of the neurogenesis with untreated controls. METHOD: Total 12 C57BL/6 mice, 2~3 months old, were recruited as follows; voluntary wheel runner, EE and control. For 2 weeks, VEx group was housed in rat cage (48x26 cm) with 2 running wheels with 3~4 animals/cage, and EE group was housed in the living condition of huge cage (86x76 cm), social interaction (13~14 mice/cage) and objects such as toys, tunnels and running wheel, whereas control group was placed in the standard cage (30x18 cm).
RESULTS
VEx and EE tended to increase the densities of mitotic marker BrdU+ cells in SVZ and striatum. They also exhibited more BrdU+ cells (/mm3) into the striatum, even though they did not show statistical significance. Moreover, EE group showed significant increment of the newly generated neurons coexpressed with BrdU+ and betaIII-tubulin+ (/mm3) in SVZ and striatum as compared to those of controls.
CONCLUSION
Voluntary physical exercise and EE induced cell proliferation and neurogenesis in both SVZ and striatum. Characteristically, EE could significantly induce neurogenesis in striatum, non-neurogenic area as well as SVZ, typical neurogenic area. Therefore, this strategy might be used to activate neural regeneration in various central nervous system diseases.

Keyword

Voluntary exercise; Environmental enrichment; Neurogenesis; Subventricular zone; Striatum

MeSH Terms

Animals
Cell Proliferation
Central Nervous System Diseases
Exercise
Interpersonal Relations
Mice
Neurogenesis
Neurons
Play and Playthings
Rats
Regeneration
Running
Social Conditions