Cerebral ischemia induces structural and functional damage in the brain, which leads to cell death and cognitive dysfunction. According to the evidences, physical exercise training exerts a neuroprotective effect and may decrease ischemia-induced injuries in this case. We evaluated the protective effects of physical training on blood-brain-barrier (BBB) disruption, neuronal death, and cognitive dysfunction induced by cerebral ischemia in male rats. Thirty-six adult male rats were selected randomly and allocated into three groups, ischemia (I), ischemia+exercise (I+E), and sham (Sh). Brain ischemia was induced via occlusion of the common carotid arteries for 20 min. Before occlusion, animals of the I+E group ran on a treadmill 5 days a week for 4 weeks. Spatial memory performances of rats were evaluated by the Morris water maze test. Apoptotic cell death in the dentate gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus was detected by a TUNEL assay, while the level of disruption of the BBB was measured by an Evans blue assay. Cerebral ischemia caused spatial memory impairment; exercise training improved the index of memory impairment following ischemia significantly (P < 0.05). Also, exercise training significantly reduced the BBB permeability in I+E rats compared with the I group (P < 0.05). In addition, the number of TUNELpositive cells was significantly greater in I rats, while exercise training significantly reduced apoptotic cell death (P < 0.05). Our results indicate that physical training exerts noticeable neuroprotective effects against brain ischemic injury, in particular by preserving the BBB integrity.
