The Effects of Exercise Therapy on Motor Behaviors of Preterm Infant Rats Induced by Intrauterine Inflammation

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of exercise therapy on motor behaviors of preterm infant rats induced by intrauterine inflammation. Methods: Lipopolysaccharide was intraperitoneally injected to pregnant rats to induce intrauterine inflammatory response, and then animal models of preterm infant rats were prepared. The preterm infant rats were randomly divided into two groups, including the exercise group (group A), and the model group (group B), while the normal infant rats without preterm birth produced by pregnant rats in the non-modeling group were used as control group (group C). Balance beam training, roller training, grasp training, and open-field test were performed to test the motor behaviors. HE and immunofluorescence staining of hippocampal tissues were performed. Image analysis was performed to observe the number of GFAP-positive astrocytes in hippocampus. Results: The test scores of motor behaviors in the control group were the highest; the model group showed the lowest, and no statistical significance was observed between the control and exercise groups. Compared with control group, the number of GFAP-positive astrocytes was increased in the model group with statistical significance (P<0.05). However, the number of GFAP-positive astrocytes was decreased in the exercise group after intervention of exercise therapy, which was statistically significant with the model group (P<0.05). Conclusion: Exercise therapy can improve motor behaviors in preterm rats caused by lipopolysaccharideinduced intrauterine inflammatory, and this might be due to the inhibition of reactive hyperplasia of astrocytes, which then plays a key role in repairing the damaged motor behaviors.

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