Cerebral ischemia induces structural and functional damage in the brain, which lead to cell death and cognitive dysfunction. According to the evidences, exercise training has neuroprotective effects and may decreases ischemia-induced injuries. The aim of current study was evaluating the protective effects of physical training on blood-brain-barrier (BBB) disruption, neuronal death and cognitive dysfunction induced by cerebral ischemia in male rats. 36 male rats (250-300 g) were selected randomly and allocated into 3 groups (ischemia, exercise+ischemia and sham). The animals in exercise group ran on a treadmill for 4 weeks 5 days a week. Ischemia induced via occlusion common carotid arteries for 20 minutes. Spatial memory performances of rats were evaluated by the Morris water maze. Apoptotic cell death in dentate gyrus (DG) area of hippocampus was detected by TUNEL assay. BBB disruption measured by Evans blue assay. Results showd that ischemia causes spatial memory impairment, and exercise training improved memory impairments following cerebral ischemia significantly (p<0.05). Also, exercise training significantly reduced the BBB permeability in ischemic compared with ischemic group (p<0.05). In addition, the results showed that the TUNEL-positive cells was increased in ischemic rats significantly, but exercise training reduced apoptotic cell death significantly (p<0.05). Our results indicate that physical training has neuroprotective effects against brain ischemic injury by preserving BBB integrity.
