Effects of Aerobic Exercise during Pregnancy on Neurobehavioral Performances and Serum Levels of GDNF in Adult Male Mice Offspring

Abstract

Clinical evidence indicates that physical activity during pregnancy may modulate the brain development and improve the neurobehavioral functions of the offspring. Nevertheless, the mechanisms by which exercise during pregnancy may cause such changes are not fully understood. Our study, therefore, aimed to investigate the effects of aerobic exercise (AX) during pregnancy on neurobehavioral functions of adult male mice offspring with emphasis on serum levels of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF). After pregnancy stabilization, pregnant mice were divided into exercise and control groups. The exercise group performed moderate-intensity AX on a treadmill during pregnancy. The cognitive function, motor coordination, forelimb grip strength, and pain tolerability of adult male offspring were evaluated using the novel object recognition task (NORT), Morris water maze (MWM), raised-beam task, grip strength, and hot-plate test (HPT). The serum levels of GDNF were also measured using the ELISA technique. Results showed that maternal moderate forced exercise improved the cognitive function and motor coordination and also increased pain tolerability in the offspring. It was also observed that AX during pregnancy elevated the GDNF serum level in the offspring. However, AX during pregnancy exerted no significant effects on the body mass and number of offspring, as well as on the forelimb grip strength. Our findings showed that moderate-intensity AX could improve the neurobehavioral functions in adult offspring due, in particular, to increased serum levels of GDNF.