Abstract Objectives The incidence of ischemic stroke continues to rise globally, however, regular physical activity before stroke onset significantly lowers its occurrence. Here, we evaluated whether low-intensity exercise preconditioning can improve neurological outcome, cerebral micro-angiogenesis, and neuronal injury in mice subjected to ischemic stroke. Methods 12-week-old C57BL/6J male mice were assigned to three groups: Sham group, transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO group), and exercise preconditioning and tMCAO (Ex+tMCAO group). Ex+tMCAO group were underwent 4 weeks of low-intensity treadmill preconditioning for 5 days a week for 4 weeks (running speed, 10 m/min; running duration, 1 h/day) before ischemic stroke surgery. Behavioral tests were assessed 24 h after ischemic stroke to verify the effects of exercise preconditioning on acute recovery following ischemic stroke. Various techniques were used to evaluate ischemic infarct size and explore pathological changes in tissue morphology after ischemic stroke. In addition, to detect whether exercise preconditioning influenced levels of inflammatory cytokines, real-time PCR was performed on the infarcted brain tissues. Results Low-intensity exercise preconditioning significantly reduced infarct size, increased cerebral microvascular density, and ameliorated neuronal apoptosis induced by tMCAO. Moreover, the apoptosis evoked by tMCAO was reversed by exercise preconditioning, which also down-regulated the inflammatory cytokines IL-6, CCL11, CCL2, CXCL1, and Fosl1. Conclusions Low-intensity treadmill exercise preconditioning mitigates ischemic stroke injury in mice.
Chen et al. (Wed,) studied this question.
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