Abstract
Capillary growth and expansion (angiogenesis) is a prerequisite for many forms of neural and behavioral plasticity. It is commonly observed in both brain and muscle of aerobically exercising animals. As such, several histological methods have been used to quantify capillary density, including perfusion with India ink, various Nissl stains, and immunohistochemistry. In this chapter, we will describe these histological procedures and describe the stereological analysis used to quantify vessel growth in response to aerobic exercise.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Hillman C, Motl R, Pontifex M et al (2006) Physical activity and cognitive function in a cross-section of younger and older community-dwelling individuals. Health Psychol 25(6):678–687. doi:10.1037/0278-6133.25.6.678
Hillman CH, Snook CM, Jerome GJ (2003) Acute cardiovascular exercise and executive control function. Int J Psychophysiol 48:307–314. doi:10.1016/S0167 8760(03)00080-1
Winter B, Breitenstein C, Mooren F et al (2007) High impact running improves learning. Neurobiol Learn Mem 87:597–609. doi:10.1016/j.nlm.2006.11.003
Kim S, Ko I, Kim B et al (2010) Treadmill exercise prevents aging-induced failure of memory through an increase in neurogenesis and suppression of apoptosis in rat hippocampus. Exp Gerontol 45:357–365. doi:10.1016/j.exger.2010.02.005
Uysal N, Tugyan K, Kayatekin B et al (2005) The effects of regular exercise in adolescent period on hippocampal neuron density, apoptosis and spatial memory. Neurosci Lett 383:241–245. doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2005.04.054
Vaynman S, Ying Z, Gomez-Pinilla F (2004) Hippocampal BDNF mediates the efficacy of exercise on synaptic plasticity and cognition. Eur J Neurosci 20:2580–2590. doi:10.1111/j.1460- 9568.2004.03720.x
Larson E, Wang L, Bowen J et al (2006) Exercise is associated with reduced risk for incident dementia among persons 65 years of age and older. Ann Intern Med 144:73–81
van Praag H, Shubert T, Zhao C et al (2005) Exercise enhances learning and hippocampal neurogenesis in aged mice. J Neurosci 25(38):8680–8685. doi:10.1523/jneurosci.173105.2005
Devine J, Zafonte R (2009) Physical exercise and cognitive recovery in acquired brain injury: a review of the literature. PM R 1:560–575. doi:10.1016/j.pmrj.2009.03.015
Grealy M, Johnson DA, Rushton SK (1999) Improving cognitive function after brain injury: the use of exercise and virtual reality. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 80:661–667
Griesbach G, Hovda D, Gomez-Pinilla F (2009) Exercise-induced improvement in cognitive performance after traumatic brain-injury in rats is dependent upon BDNF activation. Brain Res 1288:105–115. doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2009.06.045
Kluding P, Tseng B, Billinger S (2011) Exercise and executive function in individuals with chronic stroke: a pilot study. J Neurol Phys Ther 35:11–17
Quaney B, Boyd L, McDowd J et al (2009) Aerobic exercise improves cognition and motor function poststroke. Neurorehabil Neural Repair 23:879–885
Black J, Isaacs K, Anderson B et al (1990) Learning causes synaptogenesis, whereas motor activity causes angiogenesis, in cerebellar cortex of adult rats. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 87:5568–5572
Ding Y, Li J, Zhao Y et al (2006) Cerebral angiogenesis and expression of angiogenic factors in aging rats after exercise. Curr Neurovasc Res 3:15–23
Isaacs K, Anderson B, Alcantara A et al (1992) Exercise and the brain: angiogenesis in the adult rat cerebellum after vigorous physical activity and motor skill learning. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab 12:110–119
Kleim JA, Cooper NR, Vandenberg PM (2002) Exercise induces angiogenesis but does not alter movement representations within rat motor cortex. Brain Res 934:1–6
Sikorski A, Hebert N, Swain R (2008) Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) inhibits new vessel growth in the mammalian brain. Brain Res 1213:35–40. doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2008.01.096
Swain R, Harris A, Wiener E et al (2003) Prolonged exercise induced angiogenesis and increases cerebral blood volume in primary motor cortex of the rat. Neuroscience 117:1037–1046. doi:10.1016/S0306-4522(02)00664-4
van der Borght K, Kobor-Nyakas D, Klauke K et al (2009) Physical exercise leads to rapid adaptations in hippocampal vasculature: temporal dynamics and relationship to cell proliferation and neurogenesis. Hippocampus 19:928–936. doi:10.1002/hipo.20545
Kerr A, Steuer E, Pochtarev V et al (2010) Angiogenesis but not neurogenesis is critical for normal learning and memory acquisition. Neuroscience 171:214–226. doi:10.1016/j.neuroscience.2010.08.008
Thompson KJ, Bulinski SC, Powell SK, Sikorski AM, Swain RA (2000) Time-dependent expression of the tyrosine kinase receptors FLK-1 and FLT-1 in the cerebellum of the exercised rat. Society for Neuroscience Abstract, New Orleans
Bulinski SC, Thompson KJ, Powell SK, Sikorski AM, Swain RA (2000) Increased immunolabeling of Flk-1 receptors in primary motor cortex of the adult rat following exercise. Society for Neuroscience Abstract, New Orleans
Yu B, Yu C, Robertson RT (1994) Patterns of capillaries in developing cerebral and cerebellar cortices of rats. Acta Anat (Basel) 149:128–133
Mouton P (2002) Principles of unbiased stereology: an introduction for bioscientists. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore
Rasband WS ImageJ. U S National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA http://imagej.nih.gov/ij/. Accessed 1997–2012
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Berggren, K.L., Kay, J.J.M., Swain, R.A. (2014). Examining Cerebral Angiogenesis in Response to Physical Exercise. In: Milner, R. (eds) Cerebral Angiogenesis. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1135. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0320-7_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0320-7_13
Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-0319-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-0320-7
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols