Exercise regulates NG2-expressing cells in a cuprizone-induced demyelination rat model of multiple sclerosis.

Background: Present study aimed to investigate the effects of swimming and treadmill exercise on demyelination, inflammation, oxidative stress, and nerve/glial antigen-2 (NG2) expression in a model of multiple sclerosis (MS). Methods: 39 male Wistar rats were divided into 5 groups including: (1) control (CON), (2) control cuprizone (CPZ), (3) cuprizone + treadmill exercise (CT), (4) cuprizone + swimming exercise (CS), and (5) delayed control cuprizone (DTXR). In the cuprizone groups, animals received a CPZ-containing diet (1% cuprizone w/w). We treated all the groups after adaptation, and we treated the delayed group (DTXR) with a delayed two weeks. For experimental studies, Immunohistochemistry, Luxol Fast Blue, and Prussian blue were applied. Results: CS and CT, compared to the control cuprizone (CPZ) group, increased re-myelination (p ≤ 0.001) and NG2 expression regulation (p ≤ 0.001). Also, there was a decreased tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) (P ≤ 0.05) and iron deposition (p ≤ 0.001), and increased glutathione peroxidase (GPx) (p ≤ 0.05) in the CS and CT groups compared to the control cuprizone (CPZ) group. Conclusion: In the present study, the effectiveness of exercise in modulating and inhibiting of the progress of MS via ameliorating the inflammation and oxidative mediators, re-myelination, and the NG2-positive cells regulation was demonstrated for the first time. Also, swimming was more effective as an exercise mode compared with treadmill exercise. On the other hand, the exercise training from the initial process of demyelination was more useful than delayed exercise (DTXR) compared to (CPZ) (P ≤ 0.05). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]