Dataset Information

Hippocampal gene expression patterns underlying the enhancement of memory by running in aged mice.

ABSTRACT: Physical activity preserves cognition in the aging brain, but the mechanisms remain obscure. In order to identify candidate genes and pathways responsible for the preservation of cognitive function by exercise, we trained mice that had been exposed to lifelong running or sedentary lifestyle for 16 months in the hippocampus-dependent water maze. After water maze training, we analyzed the expression of 24,000 genes in the hippocampus using Illumina bead microarray. Runners show greater activation of genes associated with synaptic plasticity and mitochondrial function, and also exhibit significant downregulation of genes associated with oxidative stress and lipid metabolism. Running also modified the effects of learning on the expression of genes involved in cell excitability, energy metabolism, and insulin, MAP kinase and Wnt signaling. These results suggest that the enhancement of cognitive function by lifelong exercise is associated with an altered transcriptional profile following learning.

SUBMITTER: Stranahan AM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2889222 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Hippocampal gene expression patterns underlying the enhancement of memory by running in aged mice.

Stranahan Alexis M AM Lee Kim K Becker Kevin G KG Zhang Yonqing Y Maudsley Stuart S Martin Bronwen B Cutler Roy G RG Mattson Mark P MP

Neurobiology of aging 20081212 11

Physical activity preserves cognition in the aging brain, but the mechanisms remain obscure. In order to identify candidate genes and pathways responsible for the preservation of cognitive function by exercise, we trained mice that had been exposed to lifelong running or sedentary lifestyle for 16 months in the hippocampus-dependent water maze. After water maze training, we analyzed the expression of 24,000 genes in the hippocampus using Illumina bead microarray. Runners show greater activation ...[more]

PMID: 19070401

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Project description:Chronic and acute stressors have been linked to changes in hippocampal function and anxiety-like behaviors. Both produce changes in gene expression, but the extent to which these changes endure beyond the end of stress remains poorly understood. As an essential first step to characterize abnormal patterns of gene expression after stress, this study demonstrates how chronic restraint stress (CRS) modulates gene expression in response to a novel stressor in the hippocampus of wild-type mice and the extent to which these changes last beyond the end of CRS. Male C57/bl6 mice were subjected to (1) a forced swim test (FST), (2) corticosterone (Cort) or vehicle injections, (3) CRS for 21 days and then a FST, or (4) allowed to recover 21 days after CRS and subjected to FST. Hippocampal mRNA was extracted and used to generate cDNA libraries for microarray hybridization. Naive acute stressors (FST and vehicle injection) altered similar sets of genes, but Cort treatment produced a profile that was distinct from both FST and vehicle. Exposure to a novel stress after CRS activated substantially more and different genes than naive exposure. Most genes increased by CRS were decreased after recovery but many remained altered and did not return to baseline. Pathway analysis identified significant clusters of differentially expressed genes across conditions, most notably the nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of B cells (NF-?B) pathway. Quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR) validated changes from the microarrays in known stress-induced genes and confirmed alterations in the NF-?B pathway genes, Nfkbia, RelA and Nfkb1. FST increased anxiety-like behavior in both the naive and recovery from CRS conditions, but not in mice 24h subsequent to their CRS exposure. These findings suggest that the effects of naive stress are distinct from Cort elevation, and that a history of stress exposure can permanently alter gene expression patterns in the hippocampus and the behavioral response to a novel stressor. These findings establish a baseline profile of normal recovery and adaptation to stress. Importantly, they will serve as a conceptual basis to facilitate the future study of the cellular and regional basis of gene expression changes that lead to impaired recovery from stress, such as those that occur in mood and anxiety disorders.

Dataset Information

Hippocampal gene expression patterns underlying the enhancement of memory by running in aged mice.

Publications

Hippocampal gene expression patterns underlying the enhancement of memory by running in aged mice.

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