Swimming During Pregnancy Increases the Expression c-Fos and c-Jun in the Hippocampus of Rat Offspring
- Sim, Young-Je (Department of Exercise Physiology, Graduate School, Korea University) ;
- Kim, Jee-Youn (Department of Exercise Physiology, Graduate School, Korea University) ;
- Kim, Chang-Ju (Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, Kyung Hee University)
- Received : 2008.10.31
- Accepted : 2009.02.24
- Published : 2009.03.31
Abstract
The expression of c-Fos and c-Jun represents neuronal activity and plays a crucial role in the shaping of the development of brain. During the late pregnancy, exercise is known to influence neuronal activity of offspring. In the present study, the effect of swimming during pregnancy on the expression of c-Fos and c-Jun in the CA1, CA2, CA3 regions, and the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus of rat offspring was investigated using immunohistochemistry. Pregnant rats in the swimming group were forced to swim for 10 min once a day from 15 days after pregnancy until delivery. The expression of c-Fos and c-Jun in the CA1, CA2, CA3 regions, and the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus of pups was significantly increased by maternal swimming during late pregnant period. The present results show that prenatal swimming may enhance the neuronal activity of pups and affect the neonatal brain development.
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