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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Jun 23.
Published in final edited form as: Brain Res. 2010 Jan 29;1341C:72–83. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2010.01.053

Figure 2.

Figure 2

(A) Exercise protects DA neurons in the SNpc against MPTP neurotoxicity. Mice kept in SH or that exercised for 1 month prior to MPTP administration had significantly fewer DA neurons in the SNpc as compared to SH+Sal. Mice that ran for at least 3 months were not significantly different in terms of neuron number as compared to SH+Sal. While mice that ran for 2 months lost a significant number of neurons compared to SH+Sal, they still lost significantly fewer DA neurons in the SNpc than those that had not been allowed to exercise. (B) Exercise-mediated protection against MPTP-induced cell death requires full running. Mice were allowed to run the average number of revolutions/24 hours (18,000), or 1/3 (6,000) or 2/3 (12,000) the amount of distance, for 3 months total. Mice that were kept in SH or whose running was restricted prior to MPTP administration lost significantly more neurons in the SNpc as compared to SH Sal (p<0.001); however, animals allowed to run unrestricted were not significantly different in terms of neuron number as compared to SH+Sal. Bars represent the average ± SEM; *p<0.05 as compared to SH+Sal; + = p<0.05 as compared to SH+MPTP.