Resistance exercise was safe for the pregnancy and offspring's development and partially protected rats against early life stress-induced effects

Adriana Souza Dos Santos; Ethiane Segabinazi; Wellington de Almeida; Aline Martins Faustino; Loise Peres Bronauth; Tiago Marcon Dos Santos; Fernanda Silva Ferreira; Angela T S Wyse; Simone Marcuzzo; Lenir Orlandi Pereira

doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2023.114362

Resistance exercise was safe for the pregnancy and offspring's development and partially protected rats against early life stress-induced effects

Behav Brain Res. 2023 May 8:445:114362. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2023.114362. Epub 2023 Mar 7.

Affiliations

¹ Programa de Pós-Graduação em Neurociências, Instituto de Ciências Básicas da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil; Departamento de Ciências Morfológicas, Instituto de Ciências Básicas da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
² Departamento de Ciências Morfológicas, Instituto de Ciências Básicas da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
³ Departamento de Bioquímica, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Bioquímica, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
⁴ Programa de Pós-Graduação em Neurociências, Instituto de Ciências Básicas da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil; Departamento de Ciências Morfológicas, Instituto de Ciências Básicas da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil. Electronic address: lenir.orlandi@ufrgs.br.

PMID: 36889464
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2023.114362

Abstract

Promising evidence points to gestational physical exercise as the key to preventing various disorders that affect the offspring neurodevelopment, but there are no studies showing the impact of resistance exercise on offspring health. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate whether resistance exercise during pregnancy is able to prevent or to alleviate the possible deleterious effects on offspring, caused by early life-stress (ELS). Pregnant rats performed resistance exercise throughout the gestational period:they climbed a sloping ladder with a weight attached to their tail, 3 times a week. Male and female pups, on the day of birth (P0), were divided into 4 experimental groups: 1) rats of sedentary mothers (SED group); 2) rats of exercised mothers (EXE group); 3) rats of sedentary mothers and submitted to maternal separation (ELS group) and 4) rats of exercised mothers and submitted to MS (EXE + ELS group). From P1 to P10, pups from groups 3 and 4 were separated from their mothers for 3 h/day. Maternal behavior was assessed. From P30, behavioral tests were performed and on P38 the animals were euthanized and prefrontal cortex samples were collected. Oxidative stress and tissue damage analysis by Nissl staining were performed. Our results demonstrate that male rats are more susceptible to ELS than females, showing impulsive and hyperactive behavior similar to that seen in children with ADHD. This behavior was attenuated by the gestational resistance exercise. Our results demonstrate, for the first time, that resistance exercise performed during pregnancy seems to be safe for the pregnancy and offspring's neurodevelopment and are effective in preventing ELS-induced damage only in male rats. Interestingly, resistance exercise during pregnancy improved maternal care and it is reasonable to propose that this finding may be related to the protective role on the animals neurodevelopment, observed in our study.

Keywords: Early-life stress; Exercise during the pregnancy; Maternal separation; Nissl method; Oxidative stress.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adverse Childhood Experiences*
Animals
Female
Humans
Male
Maternal Deprivation
Mothers
Pregnancy
Rats
Rats, Wistar
Resistance Training*