Effects of treadmill running on short-term pre-synaptic plasticity at dentate gyrus of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

Previous studies indicated that diabetes mellitus leads to impairments in hippocampal synaptic plasticity and defects in learning and memory. Although diabetes affects synaptic transmission in the hippocampus through both pre- and post-synaptic influences, it is not clear if the defects are pre- or post-synaptic or both; and whether these are prevented by running. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of treadmill running on short-term plasticity in inhibitory interneurons in the dentate gyrus of STZ-induced diabetic rats. Experimental groups were the control-rest group, the control-exercise group, the diabetes-rest group and the diabetes-exercise group (n=6 for each experimental group). The exercise program was moderate exercise consisting of treadmill running at 17 m/min and 0-degree inclination for 40 min/day, 7 days/week, for 12 weeks. The paired pulse paradigm was used to stimulate the perforant pathway and field excitatory post-synaptic potentials (fEPSP) were recorded in dentate gyrus (DG). In the diabetic-rest group paired pulse facilitation was significantly increased comparing to the control-rest group. However, there were no differences between responses of the control-exercise and diabetes-exercise groups compared to the control-rest group. The present results suggest that the pre-synaptic component of synaptic plasticity in the dentate gyrus is affected under diabetic conditions and that treadmill running prevents this effect. The data support the possibility that alterations in transmission may account, in part, for learning and memory deficits induced in diabetes, and that treadmill running is helpful in alleviating the neural complications of diabetes mellitus. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.