The impact of voluntary exercise on relative telomere length in a rat model of developmental stress

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dc.contributor.authorBotha, Martmarien_ZA
dc.contributor.authorGrace, Laurianen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorBugarith, Kishoren_ZA
dc.contributor.authorRussell, Vivienneen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorKidd, Martinen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorSeedat, Sorayaen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorHemmings, Sianen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2015-11-18T03:59:52Z
dc.date.available2015-11-18T03:59:52Z
dc.date.issued2012en_ZA
dc.description.abstractBACKGROUND: Exposure to early adverse events can result in the development of later psychopathology, and is often associated with cognitive impairment. This may be due to accelerated cell aging, which can be catalogued by attritioned telomeres. Exercise enhances neurogenesis and has been proposed to buffer the effect of psychological stress on telomere length. This study aimed to investigate the impact of early developmental stress and voluntary exercise on telomere length in the ventral hippocampus (VH) and prefrontal cortex (PFC) of the rat. Forty-five male Sprague-Dawley rats were categorised into four groups: maternally separated runners (MSR), maternally separated non-runners (MSnR), non-maternally separated runners (nMSR) and non-maternally separated non-runners (nMSnR). Behavioural analyses were conducted to assess anxiety-like behaviour and memory performance in the rats, after which relative telomere length was measured using qPCR. RESULTS: Maternally separated (MS) rats exhibited no significant differences in either anxiety levels or memory performance on the elevated-plus maze and the open field compared to non-maternally separated rats at 49 days of age. Exercised rats displayed increased levels of anxiety on the day that they were removed from the cages with attached running wheels, as well as improved spatial learning and temporal recognition memory compared to non-exercised rats. Exploratory post-hoc analyses revealed that maternally separated non-exercised rats exhibited significantly longer telomere length in the VH compared to those who were not maternally separated; however, exercise appeared to cancel this effect since there was no difference in VH telomere length between maternally separated and non-maternally separated runners. CONCLUSIONS: The increased telomere length in the VH of maternally separated non-exercised rats may be indicative of reduced cellular proliferation, which could, in turn, indicate hippocampal dysfunction. This effect on telomere length was not observed in exercised rats, indicating that voluntary exercise may buffer against the progressive changes in telomere length caused by alterations in maternal care early in life. In future, larger sample sizes will be needed to validate results obtained in the present study and obtain a more accurate representation of the effect that psychological stress and voluntary exercise have on telomere length.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationBotha, M., Grace, L., Bugarith, K., Russell, V., Kidd, M., Seedat, S., & Hemmings, S. (2012). The impact of voluntary exercise on relative telomere length in a rat model of developmental stress. <i>BMC Research Notes</i>, http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15091en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationBotha, Martmari, Laurian Grace, Kishor Bugarith, Vivienne Russell, Martin Kidd, Soraya Seedat, and Sian Hemmings "The impact of voluntary exercise on relative telomere length in a rat model of developmental stress." <i>BMC Research Notes</i> (2012) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15091en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationBotha, M., Grace, L., Bugarith, K., Russell, V. A., Kidd, M., Seedat, S., & Hemmings, S. M. (2012). The impact of voluntary exercise on relative telomere length in a rat model of developmental stress. BMC research notes, 5(1), 697.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Journal Article AU - Botha, Martmari AU - Grace, Laurian AU - Bugarith, Kishor AU - Russell, Vivienne AU - Kidd, Martin AU - Seedat, Soraya AU - Hemmings, Sian AB - BACKGROUND: Exposure to early adverse events can result in the development of later psychopathology, and is often associated with cognitive impairment. This may be due to accelerated cell aging, which can be catalogued by attritioned telomeres. Exercise enhances neurogenesis and has been proposed to buffer the effect of psychological stress on telomere length. This study aimed to investigate the impact of early developmental stress and voluntary exercise on telomere length in the ventral hippocampus (VH) and prefrontal cortex (PFC) of the rat. Forty-five male Sprague-Dawley rats were categorised into four groups: maternally separated runners (MSR), maternally separated non-runners (MSnR), non-maternally separated runners (nMSR) and non-maternally separated non-runners (nMSnR). Behavioural analyses were conducted to assess anxiety-like behaviour and memory performance in the rats, after which relative telomere length was measured using qPCR. RESULTS: Maternally separated (MS) rats exhibited no significant differences in either anxiety levels or memory performance on the elevated-plus maze and the open field compared to non-maternally separated rats at 49 days of age. Exercised rats displayed increased levels of anxiety on the day that they were removed from the cages with attached running wheels, as well as improved spatial learning and temporal recognition memory compared to non-exercised rats. Exploratory post-hoc analyses revealed that maternally separated non-exercised rats exhibited significantly longer telomere length in the VH compared to those who were not maternally separated; however, exercise appeared to cancel this effect since there was no difference in VH telomere length between maternally separated and non-maternally separated runners. CONCLUSIONS: The increased telomere length in the VH of maternally separated non-exercised rats may be indicative of reduced cellular proliferation, which could, in turn, indicate hippocampal dysfunction. This effect on telomere length was not observed in exercised rats, indicating that voluntary exercise may buffer against the progressive changes in telomere length caused by alterations in maternal care early in life. In future, larger sample sizes will be needed to validate results obtained in the present study and obtain a more accurate representation of the effect that psychological stress and voluntary exercise have on telomere length. DA - 2012 DB - OpenUCT DO - 10.1186/1756-0500-5-697 DP - University of Cape Town J1 - BMC Research Notes LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2012 T1 - The impact of voluntary exercise on relative telomere length in a rat model of developmental stress TI - The impact of voluntary exercise on relative telomere length in a rat model of developmental stress UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15091 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/15091
dc.identifier.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1756-0500-5-697
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationBotha M, Grace L, Bugarith K, Russell V, Kidd M, Seedat S, et al. The impact of voluntary exercise on relative telomere length in a rat model of developmental stress. BMC Research Notes. 2012; http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15091.en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisherBioMed Central Ltden_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Human Biologyen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Health Sciencesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.rightsThis is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licenseen_ZA
dc.rights.holder2012 Botha et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.en_ZA
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0en_ZA
dc.sourceBMC Research Notesen_ZA
dc.source.urihttp://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcresnotes/en_ZA
dc.subject.otherEarly adverse eventsen_ZA
dc.subject.otherPsychopathologyen_ZA
dc.subject.otherCognitive impairmenten_ZA
dc.titleThe impact of voluntary exercise on relative telomere length in a rat model of developmental stressen_ZA
dc.typeJournal Articleen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceArticleen_ZA
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