Willed-movement training reduces brain damage and enhances synaptic plasticity related proteins synthesis after focal ischemia.

It has been wildly accepted that willed movement(WM) training promotes neurological rehabilitation in patients with stroke. However, it was not clear whether the effect of WM is better than other forms of exercise. The purpose of this study is to assess different effects of WM and other forms of exercise on rats with focal ischemia. The subjects are all had right middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) surgery and randomly allocated to three groups of training and one control group with no training. Infarct volume by 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) dye, expression of PICK1 and synaptophysin in cerebral cortex and striatum of injured side by western blotting and immunofluorescence performed are analyzed. Exercise has done respectively on rats in each group for 15 days and 30 days. Compared with the control group, the brain damage is reduced in other groups after 15 days exercise. The protein expressions levels of synaptophysin and PICK1 are upregulated after exercise. Concentration of PICK1 protein in WM is greater than other exercise groups, and the expression of synaptophysin in WM and SM groups are higher than EM groups. The number of PICK1 positive cells, synaptophysin and PICK1 co-positive cells are increased by exercise. Synaptophysin is widely distributed in cortex surrounding the injury area in WM and EM. It is indicated in our result that willed-movement training is the most effective intervention in enhancing the PICK1-mediated synaptic plasticity in the area adjacent to the damage region of ischemic rats.