Efeitos do exercício físico sobre a morfofisiologia dos astrócitos imunorreativos para a Proteína Glial Fibrilar Ácida (GFAP) no hipocampo de ratos Wistar

Abstract

A wide variety of studies have demonstrated that physical activity has beneficial effects on brain function, including the improvement of cognition, the enhancement of learning and memory processes, and also displays neuroprotective effects. One of the mechanisms responsible for these beneficial effects is the influence that exercise has on brain plasticity. In this sense, the hippocampus is a brain region particularly important in the formation of new memories and featured as one of the main structures of the brain where we observe neurogenesis in adulthood. The astrocytes are important glial cells, critical for neuronal energy metabolism by regulating the concentration of various molecules and as neurons, are believed to participate actively in the synaptic function. Furthermore, astrocytes are susceptible to plasticity induced by environmental stimuli such as physical exercise. The aim of this study was to investigate whether physical exercise can alter the immunoreactivity for Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP), density and morphology of GFAP positive astrocytes, in the stratum radiatum of the CA1 region of the rat hippocampus. Thirteen male rats were divided in two groups: Sedentary (n=6) and Exercise (n=7). The animals in the exercise group were submitted to a protocol of 30 minutes of daily physical exercise on a treadmill for 4 consecutive weeks. GFAP immunoreactivity was evaluated using optical densitometry and the analysis of the astrocyte ramification was done using an adaptation of Sholl's concentric circles method. The results show that physical exercise is capable of increasing the density of GFAP positive astrocytes as well as the regional and cellular GFAP expression. In addition, physical exercise altered astrocytic morphology as shown by the increased degree of ramification observed in the lateral quadrants and in the length of the longest astrocytic processes in the central quadrants. This data demonstrate important changes in astrocytes promoted by physical exercise, supporting the idea that these cells are involved in regulating neural activity and plasticity.