Reduced mortality and brain damage after locomotor activity in gerbil forebrain ischemia.

Abstract
Preischemic spontaneous locomotor activity was distinguished in this laboratory as a factor influencing outcome after 15 and 20 minutes of forebrain ischemia in gerbils. Histological investigations were carried out to analyze potential relations between postischemic survival and a reduction of cerebral damage by spontaneous locomotor activity.Male Mongolian gerbils were divided into two groups, one with access to running wheels ("runners") and one kept in conventional cages ("nonrunners") for 2 weeks preceding forebrain ischemia of 15 or 20 minutes. A total of 99 gerbils were divided in subgroups and were allowed to recover for 2 weeks for assessment of survival. Other subgroups (n = 7 to 9) were killed at day 4 for quantitative histology of selectively vulnerable areas such as hippocampus, cortex, striatum, and thalamus.Two weeks after 15-minute ischemia, 44% of non-runners had survived compared with 90% of runners (P < .01). With 20-minute ischemia all runners survived compared with 21% of nonrunners. Q...

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