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Positive effect of moderate-intensity aerobic activity on pentylenetetrazol-induced epileptic behaviors in pregnant mice and cognitive performance in adult male offspring

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Abstract

Purpose

Epilepsy is one of the common neurological disorders. It has been reported that physical activity can be a complementary therapy to treat seizures. Therefore, the present study was designed to investigate the effect of aerobic training on pentylenetetrazol (PTZ)-induced seizure in pregnant mice.

Methods

The kindled female mice were divided into eight groups including (1) pregnant mice (PC) treated with PTZ without physical training (PT), (2) PC treated with PTZ with aerobic training (AT), (3) PC treated with normal saline (NS), (4) PC without any injection in pregnancy, (5) non-PC treated with PTZ without PT, (6) non-PC treated with PTZ with AT, (7) non-PC treated with NS and (8) non-PC without any injection. The seizure activity was measured for half an hour after PTZ injection and anxiety activity was assessed 2 h after PTZ injection. Also, at postnatal day 94, cognitive performance at male offspring of the groups was evaluated.

Results

The results showed that aerobic training reduced seizure severity and restored seizure-induced anxiety in pregnant and non-pregnant mice to control levels. It was also observed that aerobic activity during pregnancy would restore the cognitive function of the offspring in pregnant mice treated with PTZ to the male offspring’s level in control group.

Conclusion

Generally, the results of this study showed that moderate-intensity AT is an appropriate treatment strategy for reducing the severity of seizure, seizure-induced anxiety and also prevents cognitive impairment due to seizure induction during pregnancy in the male offspring.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran

    Ayoob Sabaghi & Ali Heyrani

  2. Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Center, School of Pharmacy, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran

    Amir Kiani

  3. Department of Biology, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran

    Namdar Yousofvand

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  1. Ayoob Sabaghi
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  2. Ali Heyrani
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  3. Amir Kiani
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  4. Namdar Yousofvand
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Contributions

AS conceived and designed the study. AS, AH and AK were responsible for acquisition, analysis and interpretation of data and drafting of the manuscript. AS was responsible for participant recruitment and contributed to analysis and interpretation of data and correction of the manuscript. AS, AK and NY were involved in critical revision of the manuscript. AS was responsible for statistical analysis and revision of the manuscript. AS and AK performed critical revision of the manuscript regarding important intellectual content. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ali Heyrani.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and national research committee (IRB number; 2212538/01) and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

All participants provide written, informed consent after being informed about the protocol and purpose of the study. It was approved by the ethics Committee of the Razi university of Kermanshah, Iran.

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Sabaghi, A., Heyrani, A., Kiani, A. et al. Positive effect of moderate-intensity aerobic activity on pentylenetetrazol-induced epileptic behaviors in pregnant mice and cognitive performance in adult male offspring. Sport Sci Health 15, 65–72 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-018-0485-7

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