image: Staining for neural stem cells expressing SOX2 (red) and GFAP (green) in the subgranular zone of the dentate granule cell layer of an adult male mouse hippocampus. view more
Credit: Image courtesy of Patricia Tezanos.
A study suggests the heritability of exercise-induced cognitive effects. Exercise has well-known beneficial effects on brain health and function, but it is not clear whether the effects of exercise are heritable. Jose Luis Trejo, Angela Fontan-Lozano, and colleagues compared cognition, neurogenesis, gene expression, and mitochondrial function between male mouse litters from the same father before and after exercise training, and between litters from separate sedentary and exercised fathers. Adult male mice exhibited significant short-term and long-term memory improvements following a 6-week exercise regimen, and litters from these male mice performed better in memory tests than litters either from the same male mice before exercise or from different, nonexercised male mice. Similar results were obtained when the litters were produced through in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer. Exercised fathers exhibited an increase in a subpopulation of immature neurons and increased mitochondrial enzyme activity in the brain compared with nonexercised fathers; similar differences were observed between litters of exercised and nonexercised fathers. Hippocampal gene expression differed significantly between exercised and nonexercised fathers, and between the offspring of exercised and nonexercised fathers. Notably, genes associated with microRNA activity showed changes in expression in both the exercised fathers and their offspring. The results suggest that exercise-induced effects on the brain can be transmitted to offspring via sperm and may be mediated through microRNA activity, according to the authors.
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Article #18-16781: "Intergenerational transmission of the positive effects of physical exercise on brain and cognition," by Kerry R. McGreevy et al.
MEDIA CONTACT: Jose Luis Trejo, Cajal Institute, Madrid, SPAIN; tel: +34-91-5854651, +34-659-633-551; e-mail: <jltrejo@cajal.csic.es>; Angela Fontan-Lozano, Cajal Institute, Madrid, SPAIN; e-mail: <afontan@us.es>
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences