Effects of exercise during pregnancy on brain development and learning and emotional behavior in adult offspring and its mechanism

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Effects of exercise during pregnancy on learning and emotional behavior in adult offspring were examined. Pregnant rats were allowed to perform spontaneous running in wheel cage during pregnancy. Learning and emotional behaviors were assessed at 7 to 15 weeks after birth. In addition, using DNA microarray analysis technique, genes affected by exercise during pregnancy were examined. Adult offspring whose dams performed spontaneous running during pregnancy showed increased depression-lile behavior and reduced levels of learning performance. DNA microarray analysis showed that exercise during pregnancy induced a large decrease in brain-derived neurotrophic factor(BDNF) in the hippocampus of adult offspring. These results suggest that spontaneous running during pregnancy causes impairment of learning and emotional behavior, possibly due to reduction in BDNF expression in the hippocampus.