EXERCISE DOES NOT MODIFY SPATIAL MEMORY, BRAIN AUTOIMMUNITY, OR ANTIBODY-RESPONSE IN AGED F344 RATS

Old F-344 rats were given endurance training over a 10-week period on a motorized treadmill. This treatment resulted in substantial heart-to-body weight ratio increases, indicative of effective training. To determine whether endurance training might alter some of the known immune system and cognitive changes observed during aging, exercised old rats were compared to nonexercised old and young controls on three variables: in vivo antigen-specific immune activity, brain-reactive antibody formation, and spatial memory. The exercise training did not influence any of these measures in the old rats. Both groups of old rats showed poorer antibody response to a specific antigen, more brain-reactive antibody formation, and poorer spatial memory than the young controls. There was, however, a significant relationship between brain-reactive antibody formation and spatial memory performance, regardless of training condition.