Effects of endurance exercise on expressions of glial fibrillary acidic protein and myelin basic protein in developing rats with maternal infection-induced cerebral palsy

Periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) is a common white matter lesion affecting the neonatal brain. PVL is closely associated with cerebral palsy (CP) and characterized by increase in the number of astrocytes, which can be detected by positivity for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). Change in myelin basic protein (MBP) is an early sign of white matter abnormality. Maternal or placental infection can damage the neonatal brain. In the present study, we investigated the effects of treadmill walking exercise on GFAP and MBP expressions in rats with maternal lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced PVL. Immunohistochemistry was performed for the detection of GFAP and MBP. The present results showed that intracervical maternal LPS injection during pregnancy increased GFAP expression in the striatum and decreased MBP expression in the corpus callosum of rats. The results also showed that treadmill walking exercise suppressed GFAP expression and enhanced MBP expression in the brains of rats with maternal LPS-induced PVL. The present study revealed that treadmill walking exercise is effective for the suppressing astrogliosis and hypomyelination associated with PVL. Here in this study, we showed that treadmill walking exercise may be effective therapeutic strategy for alleviating the detrimental effects of CP.