Neural Regeneration Research ›› 2017, Vol. 12 ›› Issue (8): 1322-1328.doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.213553

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Cold water swimming pretreatment reduces cognitive deficits in a rat model of traumatic brain injury

Zi-wei Zhou1, 2, 3, 4, Ya-dan Li5, Wei-wei Gao1, 2, 3, 4, Jie-li Chen6, Shu-yuan Yue1, 2, 3, 4, Jian-ning Zhang1, 2, 3, 4   

  1. 1 Department of Neurosurgery, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China;          
    2 Tianjin Neurological Institute, Tianjin, China;
    3 Key Laboratory of Post-trauma Neuro-repair and Regeneration in Central Nervous System, Ministry of Education, Tianjin, China;
    4 Tianjin Key Laboratory of Injuries, Variations and Regeneration of Nervous System, Tianjin, China;
    5 Intensive Care Units, Tianjin Huanhu Hospital, Tianjin, China;       
    6 Department of Neurology, Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, MI, USA
  • Received:2017-05-25 Online:2017-08-15 Published:2017-08-15
  • Contact: Zi-wei Zhou or Jian-ning Zhang,1985zhouziwei@163.com or jianningzhang@hotmail.com.
  • Supported by:

    This study was supported by a grant from the Incubation Project of Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin Medical University General Hospital in China, No. 303071901401; the Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin of China, No. 13JCZDJC30800; the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81271361 and 81330029.

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Abstract:

A moderate stress such as cold water swimming can raise the tolerance of the body to potentially injurious events. However, little is  known about the mechanism of beneficial effects induced by moderate stress. In this study, we used a classic rat model of traumatic brain injury to test the hypothesis that cold water swimming preconditioning improved the recovery of cognitive functions and explored the mechanisms. Results showed that after traumatic brain injury, pre-conditioned rats (cold water swimming for 3 minutes at 4°C) spent a significantly higher percent of times in the goal quadrant of cold water swim, and escape latencies were shorter than for non-pretreated rats. The number of circulating endothelial progenitor cells was significantly higher in pre-conditioned rats than those without pretreatment at 0, 3, 6 and 24 hours after traumatic brain injury. Immunohistochemical staining and Von Willebrand factor staining demonstrated that the number of CD34+ stem cells and new blood vessels in the injured hippocampus tissue increased significantly in pre-conditioned rats. These data suggest that pretreatment with cold water swimming could promote the proliferation of endothelial progenitor cells and angiogenesis in the peripheral blood and hippocampus. It also ameliorated cognitive deficits caused by experimental traumatic brain injury.

Key words: nerve regeneration, cold water swimming, cognitive deficits, endothelial progenitor cells, angiogenesis, neural repair, stress, Morris water maze, fluid percussion injury model, CD34, Von Willebrand factor, neural regeneration