Effects of voluntary exercise on synaptic plasticity and gene expression in the dentate gyrus of adult male Sprague-Dawley rats in vivo.

Neuroscience. 2004;124(1):71-9. Farmer J, Zhao X, van Praag H, Wodtke K, Gage FH, Christie BR. “Voluntary exercise produces enhanced neurogenesis and long-term potentiation (LTP) in the dentate gyrus (DG) of mice in vitro”. In the present study, the authors investigated the mechanisms by which voluntary activity increased neurogenesis. First they confirmed that voluntary exercise increased neurogenesis and LTP in the DG of rats in vivo. Second they showed LTP could be easily achieved in rats performing voluntary exercise and finally they suggested that the functional changes might be mediated through increased expression of BDNF, NR2B and GLUR5 mRNA at cellular level in voluntary running animals.-Madhan