Document Type : Research Paper I Open Access I Released under (CC BY-NC) license

Authors

1 Department of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, Rasht Branch, Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Iran

2 Professor of Sport Physiology, Department of Physical Education and Sports Science, Rasht Branch, Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Iran

3 Associate Professor of Sport Physiology, Department of Physical Education and Sports Science, Rasht Branch, Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Iran

Abstract

Introduction: Alzheimer's is a destructive brain disease that causes progressive cognitive disorders for which there is no cure. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of aerobic exercise along with the consumption of saffron extract on spatial memory and the amount of tau protein accumulation in the hippocampal tissue of Alzheimer's induced male rats.



Method: In this experimental study, 32 adult male rats were randomly divided into 4 Alzheimer's groups including control, aerobic exercise, aerobic exercise, extract and extract. Aerobic exercises including 3 training sessions per week were performed for 8 weeks. Y maze test was used to check spatial memory and ELISA method was used to measure tau protein. One-way analysis of variance was used to analyze the data.

Findings: The results showed that after 8 weeks of aerobic training with saffron supplement, there was a significant increase in spatial memory performance in the intervention groups compared to the control group (P < 0.5). Also, regarding the amount of tau protein accumulation in the aerobic exercise group, aerobic exercise and extract showed a significant decrease compared to the control group (P < 0.5).

Conclusion: It seems that aerobic exercise and consumption of saffron extract improves spatial memory

performance and reduces the accumulation of tau protein in the hippocampal tissue of Alzheimer's male rats.

Keywords

Main Subjects