Table I.

Density of motor neurons (×10⁶ cells/mm³) in ventral horns of spinal cords of G93A mice that are sedentary (SED), exposed to high-level (HEX) or mid-level (MEX) exercise. Sedentary wild-type (WT) mice were also studied as controls. Male mice were exposed to exercise starting at 30 days of age and cords were collected at 70, 95 and 120 days of age. Neurons that are larger than 15 μm were counted.

	cervical	70 days old thoracic	lumbar	cervical	95 days old thoracic	lumbar	cervical	120 days old thoracic	lumbar
WT	3.33±0.29	2.18±0.35	3.09±0.29	3.02±0.13	2.12±0.34	2.29±0.16	3.19±0.81	2.78±0.78	2.22±0.27
SED	2.18±0.23	1.80±0.11	1.79±0.12^a	1.95±0.09	1.79±0.10	1.82±0.16	2.07±0.19	1.94±0.21	1.02±0.23^a
MEX	2.69±0.22	2.58±0.14	2.39±0.16	2.31±0.16	2.30±0.21	3.62±0.27^a,^b	2.22±0.16	2.53±0.27	1.67±0.23
HEX	2.36±0.20	1.93±0.12	1.70±0.14^a	1.93±0.25	1.84±0.14	2.58±0.32	2.23±0.23	2.40±0.19	1.43±0.15

All values are mean±SEM. Statistical analysis is performed by ANOVA followed by post-hoc test (Tukey-Kramer), p<0.05 is considered significant.

vs WT

vs SED within the same column.