This study to be published next month in the journal, Alcoholism, Clinical and Experimental Research, by J. Leigh Leasure, Departments of Psychology and Biology & Biochemistry, University of Houston, Houston, Texas; and Kimberly Nixon, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, investigated "whether voluntary exercise prior to binge alcohol exposure could protect against alcohol-induced cell loss.
Female Long-Evans rats exercised voluntarily for 14 days before undergoing 4 days of binge alcohol consumption. Brains were harvested immediately after the last dose of alcohol and examined for various histological markers of neurodegeneration, including both cell death (FluoroJade B) and cell birth (Ki67) markers."
Results showed that the rats that exercised prior to binge exposure were significantly less behaviorally intoxicated and had "reduced loss of dentate gyrus granule cells and fewer FluoroJade B positive cells in the dentate gyrus and associated entorhinal-perirhinal cortex compared to nonexercisers. However, exercise did not protect against cell death in the piriform cortex nor protect against alcohol-induced decreases in cell proliferation, evidenced by a similar alcohol-induced reduction in Ki67 labeled cells between exercise and sedentary rats."
. . . . . We conclude that exercise can . . . protect vulnerable brain areas from alcohol-induced cell death. Exercise neuroprotection of alcohol-induced brain damage has important implications [for] . . . developing novel treatment strategies." Article forthcoming: "Exercise Neuroprotection in a Rat Model of Binge Alcohol Consumption," by J. L. Leasure and K. Nixon, Alcoholism, Clinical and Experimental Research.
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