The Effects of Lifelong Exercise on Cognition Behavior and Gene Expression Within the Hippocampus

Physical exercise has multiple positive effects on brain function and has an influence at genetic, cellular, and behavioral levels. Many studies have shown exercise can improve cognitive function, alter gene expression, and increase adult neurogenesis in the hippocampus. Exercise also helps to maintain our cognitive function during aging. However, in most animal studies, positive phenotypes on cognitive function were detected after a short term period of exercise. Our proposal has three aims. Firstly, we are going to use a lifelong running animal model to reveal the importance of exercise. We will compare the effects of lifelong running with late onset running on learning and cognitive behavior and brain neurogenesis. This will allow us to investigate whether late onset running and lifelong running have similar effects in protecting against age-related brain dysfunctions. Secondly, we will analyze the gene expression pattern to obtain the candidate genes altered by age and exercise in opposing directions. We assume these genes may be responsible for the effects of exercise in protecting the ageing brain from dysfunction. Thirdly, we will generate conditional or inducible knockout mice from the most likely candidate genes in order to study their role in cognitive function, learning and memory.

Project ID:PC10408-1523
External Project ID:MOST104-2320-B182-036