Running enhances neurogenesis, learning, and long-term potentiation in mice
(Runners are Smarter)

Scientific Proof!
December 1999
from Otto Lies

Abstract from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Running increases neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus, a brain structure that is important for memory function. Consequently, spatial learning and long-term potentiation (LTP) were tested in groups of mice housed either with a running wheel (runners) or under standard conditions (controls). Mice were injected with bromodeoxyuridine to label dividing cells and trained in the Morris water maze. LTP was studied in the dentate gyrus and area CA1 in hippocampal slices from these mice. Running improved water maze performance, increased bromodeoxyuridine-positive cell numbers, and selectively enhanced dentate gyrus LTP. Our results indicate that physical activity can regulate hippocampal neurogenesis, synaptic plasticity, and learning.

Study authors: Henriette van Praag^*,, Brian R. Christie^,, Terrence J. Sejnowski^,§, and Fred H. Gage^*,¶ 

^* Laboratory of Genetics and  Laboratory of Computational Neurobiology, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA 92037; and ^§ Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Department of Biology, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093

Edited by Charles F. Stevens, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA, and approved September 2, 1999 (received for review July 20, 1999)

Tuesday, May 20, 2008 04:33 PM