Exercise contributes in improving mental health and alleviates depression, anxiety, and cognitive impairment by facilitating neuronal remodeling (Park H, Poo MM. 2013). The involvement of brain derived neurotropic factor (BDNF) and D1 dopamine receptor (D1DR) has been reported. On the other hand, a limited number of information is available on the effect exercise with altered intensity on locomotor activity. This study explored the effect of altered training intensity on adult male rat locomotor activity, which may be partly regulated by neuronal remodeling through dopamine and BDNF signalling. Male adult Wistar rats were divided into 4 groups: stationary control, aerobic (sub LT), lactate threshold (LT), and anaerobic training groups (Supra LT). They were trained for 14 days followed by measuring the locomotor activity in their home cage from day 14 to 16. Rats were then sacrificed under anesthesia, and the striatum was separated for RT-PCR and Western blot analysis. We found that two-weeks training induced hyperactivity during night regardless of the training intensity. Only aerobic training group showed increased D1DR mRNA and protein levels; BDNF mRNA levels were also increased. The phosphorylation of Tropomyosin receptor kinase (Trk) A and TrkB was also altered significantly (TrkA, all training groups; TrkB, only aerobic group). In summary, two weeks training with various intensities induces hyperactivity in rats during night. Among various training protocols, only aerobic training activated D1DR and BDNF signaling pathways. These results partly revealed the mechanism how exercise with different intensity can alter behavior in rats. In addition, our study may have clinical relevance to clarify the role of exercise, particularly aerobic training, to improve mental health.

To Cite This Article: Lesmana R, Pratiwi YS, Goenawan H, Hadi EJ, Tarawan VM, Sylvana N, Setiawan I, Purba A, Supratman U and Koibuchi N, 2019. Aerobic exercise altered locomotor activity and induced D1 dopamine receptor and Brain Derived Neurotropic Factor (BDNF) expressions. Pak Vet J, 39(3): 341-346. http://dx.doi.org/10.29261/pakvetj/2019.070