Intensive training can relieve post-stroke depression and increase the expression of Kalirin-7 in the hippocampus

Abstract

Objective To observe any effect of intensive training on the degree of depression and the expression of Kalirin-7 in the hippocampus of rats modeling with post-stroke depression, and to investigate possible mechanisms. Methods Forty male Wistar rats were randomly divided into a post-stroke depression (PSD) group, a routine training group, an intensive training group and a sham-operation group (n=10 for each group). All except the sham-operation group were given the middle cerebral artery occlusion using the intraluminal thread method, and chronic mild stress was applied. The PSD group and the sham-operation group were not given any training. The routine training group was trained once a day, and the intensive training group was trained twice a day. The sucrose preference test, open field test and forced swimming test were conducted at the outset and after 14 and 28 days of training. The expression of Kalirin-7 in the left hippocampus was detected using Western blotting. Results After 14 days of training, significant differences were found in the test results of the sham-operation group compared with the other groups (P<0.05). There were also significant differences in the average results on all 3 tests among all of the groups except the sham-operation group. At both 14 and 28 days after training, the average expression of Kalirin-7 in both the routine and intensive training groups was significantly higher than in the PSD group (P<0.05), and that of the intensive training group was significantly higher than that of the routine training group at the same time points (P<0.05). Conclusion Intensive training can relieve depression and increase the expression of the Kalirin-7 in the hippocampus, at least in rats. Key words: Intensive training; Stroke; Post-stroke depression