Voluntary running wheel activity reduced heart rates and ameliorated cortical oxidative stress in female spontaneously hypertensive rats in a blood-pressure-independent manner.
Does voluntary running wheel activity ameliorate the effects of hypertension in the brain of female spontaneously hypertensive rats?
High physical activity ameliorates oxidative stress in the cortex of hypertensive rats independently of blood pressure reduction.
Absolute Event Rate: 0% vs 0%
Low physical activity is a common risk factor for hypertension and dementia. We investigated whether voluntary running wheel activity (VRWA) ameliorates the effects of hypertension in the brain. Forty-six six-week-old female spontaneously hypertensive rats were randomly selected in a sedentary control group (SHR-S; n = 21) or had access to running wheels during their active nighttime (SHR-R; n = 15). Age-matched normotensive Wistar rats served as controls (WIS; n = 10). Animals were sacrificed after six months. The cortex, medulla oblongata, and olfactory bulb were prepared. Oxidative stress was analyzed by DHE staining, protein expression by Western blots, mRNA expression by qRT-PCR and blood pressure by a tail-cuff method. VRWA reduced heart rates but not blood pressure. All SHRs displayed a strong reduction of Ucp2 brain expression in a blood-pressure-dependent way. VRWA did not improve the expression of Ucp2 but increased the expression of Cat and reduced oxidative stress in the cortex. Hypertension increased the expression of Ren in the medulla oblongata without any effect of VRWA on this parameter. VRWA generally affected mRNA expression stronger in the cortex than in the other parts of the brain. In conclusion, high physical activity ameliorated oxidative stress in the cortex in a blood-pressure-independent way.
Sato et al. (Tue,) reported a other. Voluntary running wheel activity reduced heart rates and ameliorated cortical oxidative stress in female spontaneously hypertensive rats in a blood-pressure-independent manner.